Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 313
Gao Gong looked solemn, nodded, and said: "I thought about the suggestion you made before going to Datong, and I found it quite reasonable, so I sent a private letter to Dongye to ask what he meant."

Gao Wushi hurriedly asked, "How would Mr. Dongye answer?"

"He refused." Gao Gong shook his head and sighed: "He said in his reply letter that he had been an official for more than thirty years and failed to serve his parents. Before his old father passed away, he was forced to be summoned by the late emperor before he finished his filial piety. But returning home is already extremely unfilial. Now that I have retired, I just happen to see the soup and medicine in front of my mother's bed, so as to fulfill my duty as a son. How happy! I also attached a small poem, saying: "Three rooms in thatched mansion cover the sun , Hibiscus hedges cover the wind on all sides. There are a few agricultural records on the wall, and a few farming maps on the wall...it’s a pleasure to relax."

"This..." Gao Wushi frowned suddenly, hesitated for a moment, and then opened his mouth: "Third Uncle thinks that Mr. Dongye's refusal to return to Beijing is really because, uh, is it really just because he wants to show his filial piety to his relatives?"

Gao Gong smiled, shook his head again, and said: "Dongye was selected as a good scholar with No. 14 in the 4th year of Jiajing's gold list, but I wasted 20 years after the provincial examination, and I was in Jiajing for [-] years. It was only on the gold list that he was two subjects later than him... At the beginning when I joined the cabinet with him, he was also ranked ahead of me. Now that I want to ask His Majesty to come back to him, he must come back after me. It's you, what do you think?"

Gao Wushi was also a little embarrassed, rubbed the bridge of his nose, and said depressedly: "But now that Yin Licheng has passed through the inner court, there is a high possibility of taking Zhongzhi to join the cabinet. In this way, the balance of power in the cabinet may be out of balance, and if we do not introduce a like-minded person, I am afraid that things will not be in harmony."

The person from Yin Licheng is Yin Shidan, who is from Licheng, Shandong.

Gao Gong naturally understood the reason, otherwise he would not have sent a letter to "Mr. Dongye" asking if he was willing to accept Qi Fu. Hearing what Gao Wushi said now, he also nodded and said, "Of course I know, it's just... Why did you say that Gao Nanyu was not enough? He was originally begging for a rest because of his illness, but now he has recovered from his illness. After Yin Shidan entered the cabinet, there was a vacancy for the Minister of Rites, so Gao Nanyu can be restored to be the Minister of Rites. After three years like this In May, I can recommend him to join the cabinet. Gao Nanyu is the same age as me, and his qualifications are not as good as mine. In addition, he is a loyal person. After entering the cabinet, he should be able to live under me, why not?"

Nan Yu is Gao Yi's name. Gao Yi is the No. 1 in the second class of Gao Gong's family. In the early years of Longqing, he resigned from office due to illness.In the original history, in the sixth year of Longqing, because there were only Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng left in the cabinet, Gao Gong used Longqing's mouth to restore Gao Yi and recommended him into the cabinet. As a result, when Gao Gong and Feng Bao were fighting, Gao Yi But she was timid and dared not follow her. Later Gao Gong was expelled, and Gao Yi was so frightened that her condition worsened that she vomited blood and died soon after.

To put it simply, Gao Gong recruited him to join the cabinet because he wanted to have another ally, but in the end this person didn't play a role at all, it was a waste of quota.

Gao Yushi sighed in his heart: why not?History has proved that this person is timid, fearless and irresponsible, and he is not good enough to be your comrade!
But Gao Pragmatically couldn't explain this reason, so he had to say: "My nephew heard that Gao Nanyu's disease seems to be tuberculosis. There is no cure for this disease. Who knows when he will relapse? This is not one of them. The second is that although Mr. Nan Yu is a poor and happy man, he does not seem like someone who seizes power and does nothing. But at the same time, he also has some... how should I put it, inaction. The third uncle wants to balance the cabinet, but this man may not dare to fight with Li Zhao Xiangzheng; if he wants to rule the world, this Duke may not be able to make good use of his power to help the third uncle. Therefore, my nephew thinks that Nanyu Duke is not enough to rely on."

These two reasons were not fabricated by Gao Pragmatically, Gao Gong hesitated after hearing this, pondered for a moment, and refused to speak.

After a while, Gao Gong said: "There is some truth in what you said, it's just that Dong Ye has an upright temperament. It's really difficult to think of being inferior to him and inferior to me."

Gao Wushi thought for a while, then suddenly asked: "Sanbo, I remember that in addition to serving as two heavenly officials, Mr. Dongye was the chief examiner for the township examination twice, and once for the general examination. "Proverbs", "Four Fear Proverbs", "Nine-Character Diagrams", "Continued Ye Cheng", etc., can be called a book equal to one body, rich in knowledge?"

"What's so strange about that?" Gao Gong said in amazement: "He is the fourth in the second class of the Yiwei Department, and his talent and learning are ten times better than mine."

"Ten times better than me in talent and knowledge" is the customary saying of ancient literati to praise others. Naturally, high-level pragmatism will not take it seriously, but with Gao Gong's character, it is not easy to be praised by others in this way. It can be seen that Mr. Dongye Skill, at least is highly praised.

Gao Wushi laughed, blinked, and said, "Sanbo, tell me... will my nephew be honored to be under the tutelage of Mr. Dongye?"

Gao Gong was stunned for a while, and suddenly understood: "You mean... for this reason, first invite him to the capital?"

Gao Wushi smiled without saying a word.

"This method can be tried." Gao Gong thought for a while, and said: "However, Guo Dongye is rigorous in his studies, and he doesn't like to accept apprentices. Even if he has been an examiner for several times, he has countless students, but he seldom contacts his former officials. Now that he has been in office for another three years, it may not be easy for you to worship under him."

Gao Wushi said: "There is always one way... just now Sanbo asked me to go to Anyang, did he want me to persuade him to accept Qifu on behalf of Sanbo?"

Gao Gong nodded: "Although you are young, you are my close relative after all, and you can also be regarded as his junior. If you bring my own letter to visit him on my behalf, he will naturally know my sincerity."

Gao Wushi smiled and said, "I'm afraid that my third uncle will have to rewrite this autographed letter. If I don't write it this time and ask him to come out of the mountain to recover, I will write to ask him to teach my nephew. What do you think, Sanbo?"

Gao Gong thought for a while, and thought: "It is possible, but...then you have to wait a few more days before you can leave."

"Huh?" Gao Wushi was taken aback for a moment: "And why?"

Gao Gong scowled, glared at him, and said, "Why? As I said just now, Guo Dongye is rigorous in his studies. If your knowledge is too poor, how can he accept you? I'll start with a question today, and you just make it up." Let me have a look at Yiyi, if the writing is unbearable, I don't want you to go to Anyang and lose my face."

Gao Yushi asked himself that although he has been busy with other things for the past six months, his homework has not fallen behind. He is a very self-taught person. When talking about the "Four Books", those lecture notes were preserved in Gao Gong's home, and later even compiled into "The Analects of Confucius", "The Doctrine of the Mean" and other books. Gao Yushi has read them all. shallow.

In addition, Gao Yushi also wanted to test his own level, so he said, "Please ask the third uncle to write a question."

"Guo Dongye is a man of great integrity. If he wants to write a question to test you, he will definitely not test the classics (Five Classics), but only test the book (Four Books). I will also come up with this question from the book." Gao Gong looked at Gao Yushi After one glance, after a little thought, he said: "The title says: The son said to Yan Yuan, if you use it, you can use it, and if you discard it, you can hide it. I am the only one with you."

After Gao Gong finished speaking, he clapped his hands lightly, called in a maid, and ordered her to study ink for Gao Yushi.Gao Wushi walked to the desk, sat down silently, and began to think about solving the problem.

(End of this chapter)