Bachelor

Chapter 110
After several days of winter rain in a row, no one thought that the rising sun would be so dazzling.

This day is November 15, the 29th year of Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty, and the 15th year of Zhengde is about to pass.

It's already very cold, but it hasn't snowed yet. The autumn that just passed was unusually hot, and even the footsteps of this winter are long overdue.

The winter rain has stopped, the sun has risen, but the expected heavy fog has not appeared.Early in the morning, the weather was so clear that it made people feel uneasy.

An official in a big red python robe looked up at the evil sun in the sky, touched the long knife mark on his neck, and couldn't help shaking his head.Then he sighed and walked out quickly from Fengtian Gate.The days of rainy days made the scar on his neck itchy surprisingly, making him mad with discomfort.

He still remembers the Mongolian knight who shot him in the neck, that was 20 years ago, and looking back now, it seems like it happened yesterday.

Seeing him coming out of Fengtian Gate, a man who looked like a small official who had been waiting here hastily ran up and said in a low voice, "I have seen Lord Hou."

"It's you?" The officer gave him a suspicious look.

"It's the official, the prince entrusted me to visit Lord Hou. Hearing that the injury on the neck of the Lord Hou has recovered recently, the prince was very pleased, and ordered the official to send a lot of Korean ginseng bought from Liaodong. It is beneficial to Lord Hou's body."

"My lord...hehe." This man called Lord Hou who is dressed in a red official bubble is none other than Guo Xun, the sixth grandson of Guo Ying, the founding hero of the Ming Dynasty. The battle of Jingnan and the bloody battle of Tumu Fortress, until now, the noble and wealthy families at the founding of the country have been wiped out.The Guo family has miraculously survived so many years of ups and downs, and since Guo Ying, the Guo family has been married to the royal family for generations, and now the six generations of Fan can be said to be the most powerful family in the dynasty.

"I'm an old man, and I can't live for a few days. I'm also a prince of Taiping. I usually live in the cold and have little traffic. Could it be that your prince is so enthusiastic about following the door of this Marquis? How can this old man bear it?"

The person who looks like a small official is surnamed Shi, and he is an ordinary official of Taichang Temple.He was not angry when he heard Guo Xun's bad words, but he just smiled flatteringly and said, "What did Lord Hou say, who doesn't know that you are the most popular person in the dynasty, even if the old lady sees you, she still has to call you Guo Xun." Hou."

Seeing him speak so respectfully, Guo Xun was very satisfied, and pointed in the direction of the palace: "My lord thinks about it day and night, doesn't he just want to know what's going on inside?"

When the civil official surnamed Shi heard him mentioning the Emperor Zhengde in the palace, his expression changed, and he said: "My prince and the emperor are close brothers. I heard that your majesty fell into the water in the south of the Yangtze River and suffered from cold. He was sick and worried. I want to come and ask him personally. Is the dragon body in good health, and I am afraid that His Majesty will blame you. Let the lower officials come to inquire, see if the emperor needs any good medicine, and collect some from the people."

Guo Xun's sneer sounded even louder: "The son of heaven fell into the water in the south of the Yangtze River to catch the cold. It's just a small ailment. He will recover after a few days of cultivation. You don't need to care so much. Besides, your prince is free in Qingzhou. The Marquis knows that Qingzhou does not have any high-quality medicinal materials. The emperor is rich all over the world, and he is not short of what you have."

The name of the prince in Guo Xun's mouth is Zhu Houxi, who is the grandson of Ming Xianzong Zhu Jianshen's grandson. He is now named King Jianghua and established a vassal in Qingzhou, Shandong.Both belong to the thick-character generation. If there is a rotation of seniority, he can be regarded as the elder brother of Zhu Houzhao, the emperor of this dynasty. Among all the princes surnamed Zhu, he is the closest blood relative to the emperor.

"That's, that's..." The civil servant surnamed Shi was almost speechless by Guo Xun's words, so he said in a low voice: "The prince is also worried about His Majesty's health!"

"Worried... Hehe... He is a little worried." Guo Xun touched his neck, feeling even more irritable in his heart, and he couldn't help sighing secretly: Undercurrents are surging!
Ever since Emperor Zhengde suffered from the wind and cold after falling into the water in the south of the Yangtze River, he was in good health after two months of recuperation. .

Probably due to the exhaustion of the journey, Emperor Zhengde's condition relapsed after returning to Beijing, and he had a high fever for more than 20 days in a row, and finally became bedridden.Although Zhengde is a naughty boy, he is a vigorous emperor. As long as his body can hold on, he will not put aside political affairs and ignore them.

But his current body is too weak, and he can't look up to see things at all.

Not going to court for more than 20 consecutive days, this incident made all civil and military officials panic, and there was a feeling that the sky was about to fall.

Because of his noble status, Guo Xun had the opportunity to walk around in the palace, and he was one of the few confidant ministers among the officials who could enter the leopard room to meet the emperor.Therefore, in the past few days, there has been an endless stream of people visiting the door to inquire about the news, which annoys him very much.

Guo Xun is also a visitor who has been in the officialdom for many years, how could he not know the thoughts of these people.He knew that this matter was of great importance, so he didn't dare to talk about it, so he ordered people to close the door of the house so that no one would see him.But the number of times he went to the palace by himself was much more than before.

Speaking of Jianghua King Zhu Houxi, the last time we met was five years ago. At that time, he had just been crowned the county king and was about to go to Shandong to become a vassal. At that time, Guo Xun sent him off.

Guo Xun and Zhu Houxi were born in childhood, and they often played together when they were young, and they had a very good personal relationship.

But friendship belongs to friendship. In the face of such a big issue of right and wrong as the emperor's illness, personal feelings are not so important.

Guo Xun too understood what this old friend was thinking, this guy was an ambitious guy.Now the emperor is seriously ill, whether he can survive this winter is a question.However, Emperor Zhengde has no heirs. Once he becomes successful, those who can inherit the throne can count their fingers, and there are no more than three or two princes of the thick-faced generation.

Thinking of the situation when he met Emperor Zhengde just now, Guo Xun suddenly felt a chill in his heart.In the past, Emperor Zhengde was a 1.8 meters ten, strong young man.Can open a five-stone bow, can eat two catties of rice, and can guard six women at night.But it was such an emperor who was as strong as a cow, but just because of a cold, he fell out of bed and was so thin that only his skeleton remained.The height has also been shortened from the original 1.8 meters to 1.6 meters, which looks like a half-grown child.

"Perhaps, it's time to think about the future." Guo Xun's heart was agitated, and the expression of the civil servant surnamed Shi eased down.These, the old friend who was far away in Qingzhou did not treat him badly, sending a lot of money to the door during the New Year and holidays.

As far as Guo Xun knows, among the officials of this dynasty, there are not a few who have received benefits from King Jianghua, especially after Emperor Zhengde fell ill.

After a moment of silence, Guo Xun looked at the civil servant with the teacher's surname and said: "Go back and tell your lords that your majesty's health has recovered. If you can pass this winter, you will get better. The snow will not fall for a long time, and this winter will be so cold. sexual."

The civil servant surnamed Shi smiled knowingly: "Your Majesty is right, His Majesty should be fine. I will report to the Prince so that he does not have to worry."

Guo Xun nodded, then looked up at the sun in the sky.

At this moment, he saw half a rainbow across the Forbidden City.

Guo Xun's body trembled, and his face lost all color: "The white rainbow pierces the sun."

There was a sound of hurried footsteps, and a dozen people who looked like eunuchs rushed over and shouted: "Marquis Wu Ding, please stay, the Queen Mother has sent you to speak."

*****************************************
Speaking of which, Sun Dan and the others set off from Zouping at the end of September.After arriving in Jinan, I stopped for a while, and when I arrived in Beijing, it was almost December.

It is not a simple matter for a large family to move the whole family. The affairs are complicated and complicated, so it goes without saying.

The Sun family moved to Beijing several times. First, they had to send people to repair the old house in Beijing. After the repairs were completed, the wives, sons, and ladies could leave.

Because Sun Dan is a collateral child of the Sun family, he was left to the end.

That's fine, Sun Dan didn't get along well with Mrs. Liu and others.It took more than half a month to go from Shandong to Beijing by boat, stop and go all the way, and Sun Dan felt a headache when he thought of spending such a long time with them.

Therefore, Sun Dan felt very comfortable with such an arrangement.He was not in a hurry, so he went on a tour with Zhi Niang along the way.Zhi Niang has never traveled far, so everything on the road feels new.

In this way, when he arrived in Beijing, Sun Dan didn't bother to report to Sun's residence, so he bought a two-room yard not far from the Imperial College to settle down.

This place is called Shibei Hutong. It is close to Shichahai Lake. It is spacious and has excellent scenery.Standing in the yard and looking up to the south, you can see the majestic figure of Jingshan Mountain, and then turn to the northwest, you will see the tall tower of Deshengmen.

When everything was settled, the weather had completely cooled down, and everyone put on thick winter clothes.Beijing was the capital of the Ming Dynasty and the largest metropolis in the world. There were nearly 40 people in the city and more than 50 people in the suburbs.This is the largest city that Sun Dan has seen since coming to the Ming Dynasty. Even a modern person is amazed at the scale of Beijing.Let alone a girl like Zhi Niang who came from a small place, she smiled and said to Sun Dan that she had never seen such a big city in her life, and she never thought that a city could accommodate so many people.

After resting in the city for a day, Sun Dan walked towards the Imperial College when he regained his strength.

Speaking of it, those who can enter the Imperial Academy are not ordinary people. At least, the supervisors of the Imperial Academy have a tuition fee of four taels of silver per month, which is much more generous than the monthly tuition of six dollars.Therefore, except for the very outstanding students who can enter here to study, they are the noble children.

Therefore, from the attire of the Guozijian students, we can know that the family backgrounds of the students here are very different.Generally speaking, those who dress gorgeously and look arrogant must be the children of nobles in the court.And those who are extremely shabby but have patches on their bodies are the superintendents selected from the local area.

There are not many ordinary people like Sun Dan who have little money and no background and can live a decent life.There are a total of more than 400 students in the Imperial College, which was also a large-scale school in the Ming Dynasty.The strange thing is that there are not many management personnel. In total, there are only one Jijiu, two Siye, one Jiancheng, and one Zhubo. All the management personnel can be counted on one hand.

Sun Dan's first mentor, Li Meiting, is currently the Imperial Supervisor, in charge of the ethos and education of the school. He is a sixth-rank official and ranks fourth in the Imperial Academy. He is a role similar to the director of academic affairs in later generations.

Li Meiting's office is located in the West Wing next to Yilun Hall, and the first thing Sun Dan did when he entered the Imperial College was to visit his mentor there.

The two hadn't seen each other for a long time, so this meeting was naturally a great surprise.

Li Meiting also knew that Sun Dan refused to change his family with Yang Shen as his teacher, and he was very moved.But after seeing Sun Dan, he still reprimanded this proud student with a straight face: "You, you, I really don't know what to say about you. If you can enter the Yangmen, once you win the exam, you will be considered as a member of the Longmen. You are so confused. People like you are rare."

Sun Dan naturally refused to say that this was because he knew that the Yang family would be brutally attacked by Emperor Jiajing in the future, and if he really entered the Yang family, he would inevitably be implicated in the future.He just smiled and didn't explain.

After scolding Sun Dan, Li Meiting said again: "Your family is poor, you can enter the Imperial College, and you can get four taels of silver for tuition fees every month, which can be considered a good livelihood. However, you have already been selected as a scholar, and I have found your test paper. I've seen it, Shiwen is doing more and more sophisticated, and the township examination will be no problem in the future. However, in addition to writing stereotyped articles in Qiuwei, you also have to test policy questions and official document writing. Among them, especially official document writing, many scholars used to be because of I've never seen it before, and I was stunned as soon as I entered the examination room."

Sun Dan: "That's the truth. The students entered the Imperial Academy this time, and they want to ask their mentors in person. The teacher once worked as a student in Shaanxi, so he should know the format of official documents."

"This one is also simple." Li Meiting listened to students asking about this matter, and he regained his spirits, and said: "As far as the official document system of our court is concerned, it can be roughly divided into edicts, edicts, letters, edicts, ultimatums, consultations, and petitions. When it is subdivided, the writings of each ministry and court also have their own placement. There are too many things to say, and you won’t be able to remember so much in a short time.”

"Exactly, the students are about to go through the admission procedures so that they can listen to the teacher's teaching face to face."

"Eh, you haven't completed the formalities yet, so I'll register you right now." Li Meiting took out the roster and filled in Sun Dan's name, and said, "However, even if you are on the flower list now, you can't study. .”

Sun Dan: "But I don't know why?"

Li Meiting stopped writing and sighed: "It's not because of the incident of the white rainbow penetrating the sun a few days ago."

Sun Dan hurriedly asked him what was going on, and it took him a long time to find out.It turned out that on the 29th of last month, the sky suddenly cleared, and a streak of color suddenly appeared in the sky of the palace, which happened to run through the red sun in the sky.

Such an abnormal celestial phenomenon shook the government and the public, and the people in Beijing were panicked for a while.According to the rules, all the teachers and students of Guozijian had to wear plain clothes to go to the Ministry of Rites and Taichang Temple for rescue when encountering such a vision.Guozijian was originally a leisurely yamen, and there was nothing to do at ordinary times. It belonged to a corner that was forgotten by people.

According to the usual practice, because this department really doesn't have much money, and no one is willing to come to be an official.Therefore, the sacrificial wine of Guozijian is generally changed every three years.But this year's sacrificial wine just stayed in this position for five years without moving.Probably because he was very quiet and wanted to move, Mr. Xu did not know what was wrong with his nerve on the day he went to the Ministry of Rites for rescue, and he clamored in public that the heavenly phenomenon was caused by the emperor's loss of gains and his arbitrarily using weapons.He also brought the supervisors of the Guozijian to jointly sign a letter, asking the emperor to issue an imperial edict.

Ordinarily, this matter is no big deal.Civil officials in the Ming Dynasty were a group of people who dared to speak and act, and their bones were hard.Besides, the king should come out to express this evil phenomenon according to the rules.

Unexpectedly, as soon as this memorial was submitted, it somehow offended the Queen Mother.

It was lively now, Jin Yiwei Ti rode out, took the Guozijian Jijiu and two Siye, and took more than 30 students from the prison, and took them to the big prison for questioning.If nothing else happens, Jijiu, Siye and others will be dismissed from office, and the more than 30 supervisors will also be stripped of their merits and escorted back to their original places under the supervision of local officials.

"Fortunately, my teacher was about to suffer from dysentery that day, and I had to run into my stomach twenty or thirty times a day, and there was no way to rescue me. I was lucky enough to escape." Li Meiting smiled wryly: "I am the only one in the Imperial College now. Even if I want to guide you, I don’t have so much time. Even if you want to study Jingyuan, I don’t know if there is another place to go. If it’s not possible, you might as well go to Yang Shen’s.”

Sun Dan was shocked when he heard this, this rescue incident would be a trivial matter in the usual way, but the empress dowager made such a big move, it seems that Emperor Zhengde will not succeed.The reason why the empress dowager used such a thunderous method was to tell everyone that the emperor is fine now, and you all be honest with me, don't talk nonsense.

It seems that today's Beijing city has reached the eve of great changes.

From now until Jiajing succeeds to the throne in March next year, I don't know how many people will soar into the sky, and how many people will fall to the ground.

Being able to witness the coming of a great era with his own eyes makes Sun Dan secretly a little excited, but he is still an inconspicuous little person, and everything that is going to happen in Beijing has nothing to do with him.

In fact, even if the Guozijian can't find out about this matter, there is nothing to learn.Such as Jijiu, I only come here to work on the sixth of every month. After I come, I will give questions to the students and read the papers.In order to cooperate with Master Jijiu, ordinary students will be more serious during these few days of each month.Usually it's just a mess, and the discipline is very loose.

Now, all the officials in the prison have been wiped out, and there is no need to learn this before the new sacrificial wine comes to take office.Of course, there are still more than 100 impoverished supervising students from other places still living in the school building for self-study, preparing for the next autumn.

In this way, Sun Dan had to find another way to study in Beijing this time.

Sun Dan replied: "I've already rejected Xiao Yang's place, so naturally I can't go there with the cheek."

Seeing Sun Dan's disappointed face, Li Meiting suddenly slapped his thigh: "Yes, Jingyuan, don't you want to get familiar with official document writing? All the officials of the Imperial College have been arrested and imprisoned, and now I am left here alone to beat and kick, even if Even an eight-armed Nezha is too busy. At this critical time, the teaching work of the Imperial College is not very important. The key is to maintain this situation. Among them, the most critical part of the supervisor is the Dian Bo Hall. Responsible for proofreading and annotating the draft of the document, which is just right for you."

Sun Dan: "Teacher, this is not appropriate. Dian Bo is a seventh-rank official, how can I go there with my body?"

Li Meiting laughed: "Sun Dan, you are worrying too much. I asked you to work as a secretary there, not to be an official. Your family is not good. Although you can get a few taels of silver for tuition in the Imperial College, but If you go to the Dianbo Hall as a small official, you can also get a few more taels of silver. Even if you learn something, you will have an extra income, wouldn't it be the best of both worlds?"

It was only then that Sun Dan realized that Mr. Li had made himself an official. Officials were officials, and there was a big difference between officials and officials in ancient times.To put it simply, officials are official civil servants admitted after passing the imperial examination, while officials are non-staff personnel hired by the government and do not occupy the number of civil servants.Looking at the entire Beijing city, there are estimated to be tens of thousands of petty officials without rank, not many grandsons, and not many young ones.

This is also good, and it can be regarded as being familiar with the operation of the officialdom in advance, and being able to learn how to write government official documents is of great benefit to oneself.

Thinking of this, Sun Dan hurriedly bowed: "Thank you so much, sir."

The next step is to officially register, and then to get familiar with the working and learning environment.Generally speaking, Guozijian is divided into two parts: the office of Guozijian officials and the school of students.That is the so-called "four halls and six halls".

The fourth hall is the office location of the faculty and staff: Yilun Hall, Jingyi Pavilion, East Wing Room, and West Wing Room.

Among them, the Yilun hall is the office of Jijiu and Siye, and the east and west hatchback rooms are the offices of Jian Cheng and Zhu Bo.As for the Jingyi Pavilion, it is where the Dianbo Hall is located. Of course, the function of the communication room and the secretariat is in the center, which is where Sun Dan is now a small official.

Because Dian Bo was still eating in prison, the two book offices in the hall were flustered and didn't have the mood to do anything.Seeing Sun Dan coming to report, he knew that he was Li Meiting's student, so he casually threw a bunch of official documents at him and went home from get off work.

After bidding farewell to Li Meiting and coming out of the Imperial College, Sun Dan let out a sigh of relief: Now I am also a member of the system.Now you can't see many students in the Imperial College, and the teachers have been arrested, but it is very quiet, which is only suitable for me to calm down and study.

It has been half a year since the Shandong Academy exam, and Sun Dan has been running around between Jinan, Zouping, and Beijing. If he doesn't calm down and study, his studies will be wasted.

Given this opportunity, Sun Dan spent two days reading the official documents in the Dianbo hall, and learned to write two receipts, and his life was quite leisurely.Because it is the first time to write an official document, these two receipts are very jerky, and I feel very bad.

Because none of the officials from the Imperial College were released, there was no leader among the dragons, and the assessment period was not every Saturday, so the students didn't come to the school much.

On this day, as soon as Sun Dan arrived at the Dianbo Hall, before he sat down to catch his breath, a secretary came rushing to Sun Dan and said, "Brother Jingyuan, something is wrong. People from Jinyiwei came and arrested Mr. Li."

"Ah, is it because of the incident of Baihong Guanri a few days ago?"

"That's right, that's right. It's said that a prison student confessed that Mr. Li suggested that memorial." The colleague couldn't stop squatting: "That's it, the Imperial College is empty."

PS: The writing state is not good. After holding it for a day, I can write this word. I don’t force it. Let’s do it today, sorry!
(End of this chapter)