Wanli Xinming

Chapter 252: Harvest Rice
Sansheng did evil, and the magistrate attached Guo.Full of evil, attached to Guo Jingcheng.In the eighth year of Wanli year, Shao Boti, a second-class scholar, had tears in his eyes. In the autumn of the tenth year of Wanli, he raised his head and sighed in his heart, this is indeed the truth.

Today is the autumn equinox in the tenth year of Wanli, the day when the emperor inspected Jingxi Rice.

Walking in front of Shao Boti was a large group of Wuyangyang—from the emperor and below, there were ministers of the cabinet, ministers of various ministries, governors of Shuntian and other high-ranking officials. The military, and all these people's schedules, road planning, order maintenance, etc. are the support of Wanping County - from two months ago, Shao Boti has been busy every day until midnight.

However, when the emperor traveled, he, a grass-roots official who lost ten pounds, could only line up at the back of the team and be a behind-the-scenes hero.Today's pig's feet are not his Shao Boti, let alone his immediate boss, the governor of Shuntian, but Xu Zhenming, a farmer in the field of the Ministry of Agriculture and Industry.

In the third year of Wanli, Xu Zhenming, the magistrate of Shanyin, who had been at the seventh rank with Shao Boti, persuaded Hai Rui to let him recommend him to the capital to plant rice in the direct performance of the silver medal.In the eighth year of Wanli, Xu Zhenming achieved great success, and was promoted to the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce, and was awarded the title of Shao Zhanshi of Zhanshifu—the fourth grade.

For the past two years, Xu Zhenming's fever has turned red and purple, making almost everyone's eyes hot.Because he dredged the Yongding River and rebuilt the Liling Weir, the newly opened irrigation area in the west of Beijing was nearly 25 mu, including 80 mu of paddy fields, with an annual grain output of [-] shi. As a result, the price dropped to the lowest since the first year of Wanli.

Xu Zhenming was first promoted, and later awarded the title of academician of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. His book "Lu Shui Ke Tan" was inscribed by the imperial pen, and Prime Minister Zhang Juzheng prefaced it. As for the newspaper advocacy, setting a model, etc., it is not compared with his holy family. What is it.

After Zhu Yijun's inspection this time, Xu Zhenming was able to secure the position of servant minister—if the holy family remained the same, he would be the servant of the left three years later, and he would be the minister in another three years. At that time, Xu Zhenming was only 59 years old.According to the new regulations, the retirement age for those under Shangshu has been brought forward to 60 years old, while Shangshu can reach 65 years old, and elders can work until 70 years old.Who would have thought that Xu Zhenming, a top three weakling, would be able to do more than Shangshu?
"Book of Rites · Qu Lishang" said: "A doctor becomes an official at seventy." Kong Yingdashu, a famous scholar in the early Tang Dynasty, said: "Seventy is old, and at home, family affairs are passed on to children and grandchildren. Li Ye." It means that when a person is 70 years old, he should pass on family affairs to his children and grandchildren at home, and should return his position to the emperor in the court so that the sages can be appointed.

From the Book of Rites until the Ming Dynasty, scholar-bureaucrats acted in accordance with the Book of Rites.Previously, the elderly over 70 years old in the imperial court had to give the emperor a memorial to beg for bones every year, expressing that they were not attached to power and position, and wanted to go back to the countryside at any time, but because of the emperor's consolation, they had no choice but to continue working.

After the promulgation of the new regulations, there is no need to write such memorials for begging bones. The imperial court has arranged a successor before the age, and the elders will retire in honor one year in advance - but they cannot leave the capital, so that the emperor can consult at any time on old affairs.After a year, he was awarded the title of Chiyi, and his political career in this life ended.

Shao Boti fingered Xu Zhenming in the back and gave Xu Zhenming a calculation. This guy can easily work until he is 65 years old.If things go well and you enter the cabinet, you can work until you are 70 years old—maybe you can even get a prime minister to do it, that is the ultimate human minister, and you can really see all the mountains at a glance.

Shao Boti was in the back with all kinds of envy, jealousy and hatred, staring at the back of Xu Zhenming who was chatting beside the holy driver, eagerly waiting for him to stumble on the dirt and rubbish, and it would be best to smash the mouth and chew the mud.

However, although this road is a dirt road in the field, there is no raised dirt.Yesterday, Shao Boti walked with people and picked up several unsightly pebbles with his own hands.

The same is from the county magistrate, who picks up stones by himself, and others dare to plant rice in the north-I am going to study it to see if Beijing can grow lychees?The lychees brought by the fast boats are so precious that Laozi, a Lingnan native, can't afford to eat them.

I heard that those Portuguese helped the court to build fast boats in Tianjin, and they were faster than galloping horses at sea, several times faster than the sand boats and lucky boats in the past.If it is really that fast, the day when Shao Boti can afford lychees is not far away.Thinking of this, the fragrance of lychees seemed to appear in his mouth, and a happy smile appeared on the corners of his mouth.

Seeing his grandfather's happy face, the county chief next to him carefully whispered to the side and said, "The county magistrate has done a good job in picking up the car this time, and this year's plan is stable."

When Shao Boti heard this, his face returned to normal and he said, "Hey, as long as you go well and don't make any mistakes." Before he finished speaking, he heard a muffled sound in the sky, but it was a thunderbolt.

The county magistrate looked up at the sky, and said to himself, "This gentleman, Yanjiangkou, has brought rain in one sentence." Seeing a black cloud rolling from north to south in the sky, the county magistrate said to himself, "Thanks to this old man. I have a hoodie ready."

Because of the sudden weather change, there was a small disturbance in the team.Immediately, a message was passed from the front, asking Shao Boti to meet the driver in front of him.Shao Boti was overjoyed, his bones almost became hollow, and he flew to the emperor with his arms fluttering.

Zhu Yijun asked him, "Is it time to close the rice fields that I saw today during the inspection?" Shao Boti's face changed when he heard the words.As expected, Zhu Yijun only looked into the distance and said, "How many acres can there be here?"

Xu Zhenming said from the side: "If you want to return to the emperor, it was decided that the emperor would come to inspect. There are [-] acres left here without harvesting." Zhu Yijun said: "The weather is not good today, if it rains heavily, this will be nothing. Can we snatch the rice back? Pick up the car today and collect a lot of labor.”

When the ministers around him heard the words, they looked at each other in dismay.The Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, Shen Li, bowed and said, "Your Majesty, don't worry about this festival. Wanping County and Xu Langzhong have already arranged for people to grab it, and there is not much left."

Hearing this, Zhu Yijun waved his hand and said, "Lead the way in front of Wanping County to the nearest courtyard." Shao Boti was stunned, so he had to lead the way in front.

After walking for a stick of incense, and after walking around a row of willow trees, Zhu Yijun saw from a distance a flat open space where dust was blowing up, where many people were busy rushing to collect them.At this time, it was extremely dark, the air was full of dampness, and the rain was about to fall.

Zhu Yijun waved his hand forward and said, "Go and help collect the rice!" Before he finished speaking, Shao Boti felt a chill on his face, and raindrops had already dripped down.

After the emperor drove back to the palace, Shao Boti also returned to the Wanping county government office.After entering the back hall to change clothes and drink ginger soup, he has not yet come back to the emperor's participation in labor.

He felt that he had something to tell others, which was a kind of complex emotion mixed with excitement and admiration, and it refreshed the three views to a certain extent.He is a small county magistrate, and the eunuch travels to the capital, and his wife does not come with him. At this moment, there is no one to speak to.

After being excited for a long time, the servant next to me finally called the master.The master entered the house in the heavy rain, and said apologetically: "I don't know if the county magistrate will be called, I'm late, sorry!"

Shao Boti said: "What did your old man do on this rainy day?"

The master smiled and said, "I was sitting and drinking at Widow Li's house across the street just now. The widow made a good fish ball, which is very fresh."

Shao Boti saw that this old bangzi was living a romantic and unrestrained life, and compared with himself, he was so angry that he could not pull off his beard.

When the gentleman took his seat, he talked about the emperor's harvest of rice today, and said, "Since ancient times, although the Holy King has been in power, I have never heard of the emperor doing such a thing! What does Mr. Xing think?"

The gentleman smiled and said, "What's the point of this? When the emperor persuaded farmers to cultivate the fields every year, he would not be able to harvest rice in the rain?"

After listening to Shao Boti, he sighed: "Alas, sir, I still haven't read much of this book. In ancient times, the benevolent kings would at most 'in the event of floods and droughts, or secretly pray to the imperial court, or stand upright in the palace', that's amazing, there is a place to go. The one who robbed the rice?"

Mr. Xing blew his beard angrily and said: "Master, you are excited today, I don't care about you as much. You read a lot, why don't you write an article about the sage and publish it in the newspaper - you won't make any money, but you will earn a manuscript fee. okay."

Shao Boti's eyes lit up when he heard it, and he said with a smile, "Wonderful!"

Records of Shengzong: "In September of the tenth year of Wanli, on Bingchen, at Shuo, 20 taels of Zhengyin were given to Qin Tianjian, two of which were inside and outside."

(End of this chapter)