Idle courtiers

Chapter 404 etc.

If someone asked what was the highest income in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, some people might answer the salt road, and some would say the river road.

That's right, salt is the country's most important source of tax revenue. For example, the Lianghuai Salt Road Yamen, each year the state approves and distributes ten guidelines for salt, totaling [-] yuan.Who will not give these salts depends entirely on the wishes of the salt transport envoys and salt censors, and the salt merchants have not obediently sent large sums of money to the officials to curry favor.

As for the river, in order to prevent floods, the state allocates a huge sum of one million taels of silver every year to build embankments for the Huanghuai River.How much earthwork, how much stone, how much labor is used, it is not a matter of writing a number with a pen in the river yamen.Anyway, Huanghuai floods every year, and once it rushes, it is a mess.

As long as you become an official in these two yamen, you will earn back your money for five lifetimes.

However, gray income is always not on the table.When a person walks in the officialdom, there is no enemy.If you are greedy for public funds and accept bribes, there will always be a day when something will come out.As long as your political opponents are willing to punish you, it is not easy to find charges.

Therefore, when it comes to the positions with the highest income, there are only the masters of the provincial examinations in each province.

The Great Grand Master was in charge of the examination, and the admitted candidates would go to him to learn from him according to the rules, and they had to offer a large sum of money as a thank you.

The amount of money is variable, and candidates from poor families can get five taels, or two taels, anyway, it’s just a wish.There are also a few hundred taels of Juren who come from a wealthy family.

After a fall, if you don’t encounter the situation in Shaanxi where only more than 90 people are admitted, there will always be two or three hundred people, then the money to thank the teacher will reach an astonishingly huge amount of ten thousand taels.

And this income is legal, and no one has the right to pursue it.The reason is very simple. It involves the tradition of Chinese Confucian culture: when students learn art from a teacher, they have to pay tuition fees. When Confucius accepted his disciples, he asked the students to give him a piece of bacon!

As long as they become masters once, poor officials can jump into the ranks of the middle class.Moreover, it can also accept hundreds of promising students and cultivate contacts.

Being an examiner is the most sought-after job in the court, and everyone will be red-faced when it comes to the provincial examination.

In view of this, the country has established a system. If you want to be an examiner in the rural examination, you can go for the examination and select the best for admission. This is called a poor examination.

Also, high-ranking officials are not allowed to hold this post.

Don't join in the fun with the six ministers, the hall officials of the various departments.Since you have a high position and authority, and your students and old officials are all over the world, and now you are going to be an examiner to recruit students, do you want to form a party?

Examiners can only be selected from among those above the seventh grade and below the doctor of each department.

Third, each person can only be an examiner for a lifetime.Otherwise, you will be the chief examiner every time, and you will work for the rest of your life, and you will accept thousands of students. Who knows how many old masters and ministers will be produced among these students. Wouldn't this court be run by your family?
In this way, this is Gu Yanping's first time as an examiner in his life, and it will also be the last time.However, Mr. Gu's luck is also good, and he became the grand master of the township examination in Shuntian Mansion.The capital city is a gathering place for humanities. Although the quality of students is not as good as that of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, it is also second to none in the north.Even if the quality is not good, but the background of the local tyrants in the capital is strong, no one knows whether there will be a court elder standing behind this small Juren.

Among them, Xie Yuan, Xu Yangda and Zhou Nan are the representatives.

After Shuntian went to release the list, someone soon copied out the top ten papers, and Xu Yangda's article naturally attracted everyone's attention.When I saw it, I was amazed in my heart, it really couldn't be better.Even if such an article is placed in the Nanzhili examination room, it can be ranked in the top [-], and it is even more outstanding in Shuntianfu, but the standard is far beyond the general Chinese style.

Zhou Nan also took a copy of Xiao Xu's paper out of curiosity, and after reading it, he couldn't help but admire: Xu Yangda is really good, and he came to take the exam in Beijing, which is a blow to other people. It's not fair anymore.

As for Zhou Nan, he was directly a close minister of the emperor.

Being able to accept such two students is the dream of any examiner.

Our old Comrade Zhou thought that he would meet Xu Yangda when he came to thank the teacher today, and then the two would have a fierce conflict because of old grievances, just like in all time-travel novels.

In the end, Mr. Zhou slapped him in the face severely by plagiarizing the poems of later generations or the extraordinary knowledge of modern people, and once again gained the admiration of everyone.

He also estimated all the possibilities and made a plan in advance.

But he didn't think of the Gongyuan Yamen, but he didn't see Xu Yangda.

Zhou Nan couldn't help it, so he asked Xiao Xu who was the same age.The man replied, Xu Yangda came to pay homage to his teacher at the Gongyuan last night, and it is said that the teacher and the student had a very happy conversation.When parting, Grandmaster Gu personally sent him out of the gate.

Speaking of which, that same year looked envious.

Zhou Nan had the feeling of punching the air, and was a little bit disappointed.Xu Yang grew up so much that Gu Yan valued it so much. Judging by his posture, he vaguely looked like the head of the department in the same year and the head of the Gu family.In the future, in scholastic circles and official circles, people may be able to put on the airs of a big brother, and you have nothing to do.

Xiao Xu has a prejudice against him, and he will hate him if he becomes a demon in the future.

The procedure for apprenticeship is very simple. People first wait in line in the lobby, and there will be a member of Gu Yan's family who will come over and pass the candidates to kowtow one by one.

If you encounter a great master who doesn't like you, he will send you away with a few words.If you have a good eye for you, this chat will be a very sweet time.

There are so many Chinese-style exams in this rural examination, and it will take two days to lecture one by one, even if you hurry up.

Fortunately, Zhou Nan came early, and his greeting card was placed at the front. If there is no accident, it will be his turn at noon.

Zhou Nan was thinking about what to say when he met the great master. After all, the old man and his mentor were enemies when they were young, so it was hard to guarantee that Gu Yan would throw face at him.There is no way, heaven, earth, ruler, relatives and teachers, feudal ethics are on your head, you can only be careful to accompany your smiling face.

After thinking about it for a long time, and I don't know how long it took, I felt a little hungry with a rumble in my stomach.Zhou Nan was surprised to find that the whole morning had passed before he knew it, and the gifts offered by the students in the lobby had piled up like a mountain.

Why is it not my turn yet? Zhou Nan had a bad premonition in his heart, but it was inconvenient to attack it, so he paid attention immediately.Looking closely, I saw that today's candidates' greeting cards were all placed on the table in the lobby.When the family member passed on the name, he would pick up the post and roll the name, and the person whose name was called would be brought in by him.

But when this guy reads the post, after a while, he will add an action to his hand, moving a post backwards.

Zhou Nan's heart shuddered, and he seriously suspected that the post that moved backwards was himself.

Time passed little by little, and the sun gradually moved westward. Zhou Nan was so hungry that his chest was pressed against his back, his back was sore from sitting, and the tea in front of him was already pale, but no one called his name yet.

Before I knew it, it was afternoon application time.

A middle-aged family member came over, smiled and bowed to everyone: "Everyone, today is like this, the old man is already tired, come back tomorrow."

"Yes, I'll come back tomorrow to meet the great master." All the people raised their hands and bowed.

Zhou Nan had been waiting here for a whole day, and he already understood that Gu Yan was trying to punish him, so he felt a fire in his heart, and asked with a cold face: "Dare to ask, why are you here waiting early in the next morning? After waiting for a day, it’s still not my turn, and the same year that arrived later than me went in? Still ask for advice.”

That family member: "Everyone who pays homage to the Grand Master Cheng's case, I have the final say on who you see and who you don't."

Zhou Nan: "What I saw earlier was that you were doing the roll call. Every time it was my turn, I moved my post back. Let me ask you, is that right?"

Zhou Nan said that the family member was a bit rough, his face changed drastically, and he scolded: "You are still studying to be a gentleman, and you are a master. It is simply inappropriate. You came late yourself. Who is to blame? What an occasion for the apprenticeship ceremony, you are delaying Arriving at Shen Shi is clearly disrespectful to Grandmaster. It’s fine if Grandmaster doesn’t punish you, how can you let Er roar here?”

Zhou Nan was furious: "I obviously arrived early in the morning, and you, a slave, are spitting blood. It's extremely hateful."

At this time, the gong of the Xuezheng Yamen of the Gongyuan sounded.

The family Ding followed the trend and said: "Shen Shi has already said, let the yamen go, everyone who has nothing to do with it!" Then he chuckled and said: "Master Zhou, please come early tomorrow, don't delay!"

The governments of ancient East Asian countries practiced an authoritarian political system, and even the academic and administrative offices were heavily guarded.There is an unwritten rule in the yamen at all levels that the yamen should be closed and locked when civil servants get off work.Staying without reason, or even making trouble, is not a small crime.

Of course Zhou Nan knew about this system, and he couldn't argue with that servant any more, so he had to retreat angrily with all the others.

If I guessed right, what happened today was Gu Yan's intentional punishment of Zhou Nan in order to avenge his feud with Wang Shizhen back then.

The grievances and grievances among them are naturally unknown to other Juren.I just feel that this is just a trivial matter. Zhou Zimu is so famous, has an official status, and is a close minister of the emperor. It is estimated that any yamen in the past will be regarded as a guest of honor. Vent the resentment in my heart.A house slave is a servant, and our Master Juren scolds him as soon as he scolds him, and Master Gu won't take it seriously if he thinks about it.

This is not an episode in today's apprenticeship ceremony.

Someone came to invite and said that it was getting late, everyone might as well find a restaurant to get together.

Zhou Nan was hungry all day and couldn't take it anymore, so he kept saying yes.Dao said, my younger brother will be the host today, it is rare to get together once, and there is no need to go far, just find a nearby one.

Everyone said that Zimu was really refreshing.

At this moment, a man who looked like a yamen servant came running over panting: "Si Zheng, Si Zheng, I have been looking for you for a whole day. I have something to do in the department, Master Shi please go back quickly.

Seeing his anxious face, Zhou Nan knew that something serious must have happened in the department, and hurriedly said to everyone: "Everyone, I'm really sorry, my stupid brother is involved in official business and needs to be dealt with. We will meet again at another time."

All the people understood and laughed: "The business of the public is important, we will have more opportunities to gather in the future! Besides, there are only three or four tables today, and it is not beautiful if there are not enough people. The Luming Banquet will be held in the Gongyuan the day after tomorrow. We will all be together again."

According to the system of the provincial examination, after visiting the list, the No. [-] governors of each province will hold a banquet in Gongyuan to celebrate the new imperial examination.During the banquet, they sang the poem "Deer Ming" and danced the Kuixing dance.

"Qingqing Zijin, relax my heart." "Yo Yo Luming, the apple of the wild food. I have guests, playing the lute and the sheng." This is how the banquet got its name.

Zhou Nan: "Okay, when the time comes, I will not get drunk and return with all my elder brothers." After finishing speaking, he left in a hurry with the two yamen servants.

After walking for a while, Zhou Nan's complexion changed suddenly when he remembered the words of his elder brothers just now, and he couldn't help shouting: "What a Gu Yan, he has sinister intentions and is extremely despicable. This is going to ruin my reputation!"

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(End of this chapter)