prosperous age

Chapter 169 Chapter 168
Jin Da won the prize, but Wei Guangde, Zhang Ke and others all knew the unpleasantness of that night, and knew that he would definitely not win the champion.

For a person like Yan Song, it is not an exaggeration to say that he is an extremely human minister.

He can't accomplish anything, but he can definitely do bad things.

The chief minister of the cabinet must definitely enter the palace to test the examiner. With the power of Yan chief minister now, if you want to suppress a Jinda, you don't need to speak, just a gesture is enough.

"I'm afraid Jinda is fifty?"

The last time I saw Jin Da at a banquet, Wei Guangde didn't say a few words to him, but just went over to greet him politely. At that time, he felt that this person was very old.

To be honest, Wei Guangde doesn't think that such an old man still has a chance to get a good grade in the exam, and the golden age of writing may have passed.

However, I really didn't expect him to win Huiyuan.

When a few people were chatting, they suddenly heard a commotion at the end of the list. Many people were avoiding something and backed away.

Soon, after the crowd dispersed, Wei Guangde saw an old man in his fifties collapsed on the ground, but he was supporting the ground with one hand while pointing at the list with the other hand, as if he was crying. Woo cry.

There were two people standing beside him, who seemed to be saying something to him, whether it was comfort or what.

Wei Guangde felt a little strange, and said casually, "What's going on over there?"

But he heard Xia Ke Fan Chang sigh, "That's brother Zhenchuan."

Xia Kefan is the oldest among the few people here who has obtained the qualification for juren, has been in Beijing for the longest time, and knows the most people.

"Zhenchuan?"

Zeng Xingwu repeated a sentence strangely, obviously he had never heard of this name before, and he looked very surprised.

"I'm afraid he is the oldest qualified candidate among the candidates who participated in the examination this time. The 19-year-old candidate in Jiajing should have failed the ranking for the sixth time this time."

Xia Kefan shook his head and said.

Looking from the bottom of the list, Xia Kefan didn't see that person's name. Looking at him now, he naturally guessed that he was no longer on the list, so that's why.

"I don't know what Zhenchuan you're talking about"

Someone next to him heard what he said earlier, and asked at this time.

"Kunshan has light."

Xia Kefan answered the man directly and said the man's name on the ground.

Wei Guangde curled his lips, what else can I say, admire his perseverance in the imperial examination?
Failed six times means that it has been [-] years since he passed the Juren examination. If it were someone else, he might have gone home and stopped playing.

Wei Guangde looked at the man, his hair and beard were all white, and he was still taking the exam in the capital.

He's already a Juren, at such an advanced age, his grandson might run all over the place, wouldn't it be good to go home and enjoy the happiness?
Shaking his head, he was about to continue looking at the previous list. At this moment, there were already a few people walking by, probably they were friends of that person.

For my own obsession, I have been staying in the capital to take the exam. It seems persistent, but it is actually a bit selfish. Don't you think that your family is still waiting for news of him in the south, worrying about his safety?
Wei Guangde lost interest, bowed his hands and said goodbye to Zeng Xingwu, and continued to move forward. He estimated that Jin Da should be ahead at this moment.

"That's fine, you can go ahead, the gongshi who are on the list this time are all gathering at the top of the list, and we have to go there in a while."

Zeng Shengwu laughed.

The two groups separated, Wei Guangde continued to walk forward, looking at his own year while walking, the tributes in front were gathering, probably looking for a place to drink.

After the general examination is over, the government will not hold any banquets, and there are no ceremonies. Those will not be held until after the palace examination on March [-]th, after the list of Jinshi is listed, that is, the Qionglin Banquet.

When Wei Guangde and the others returned to the Jiujiang Guild Hall drunk at night, Zhang Ji took the big red news from the Gongyuan from the shopkeeper. Wei Guangde nodded at him with a smirk, and was helped into his room by Zhang Ji.

Wei Guangde is really satisfied now, and there is no pressure because of his lower ranking. Wei Guangde himself has never thought about winning the first prize, which is unrealistic.

He is very satisfied with his current life. Now that he is an official, his future life will only be better.

In the next few days, the Jiangxi Guild Hall sent out banquet invitations again, and the targets were naturally the tributes who passed the examination this year. Wei Guangde and the other four Jiujiang tributes naturally went to the banquet with pleasure.

To Wei Guangde's surprise, Jin Da once again threw Yan Shifan's face at the banquet, obviously he really didn't intend to take the title of No. [-] scholar.

Wei Guangde also didn't know why this guy had such a big feud with the Yan family.

In any case, today is a banquet attended by Jiangxi Gongshi, so it is time to let go of some prejudices for the time being, even if you still don't like Yan's family, there is no need to let them down in front of so many people.

The Yan family obviously wanted to repair their relationship with Huiyuan, but it was all in vain.

Wei Guangde could only mourn for Jinda in his heart, everyone said that when one is old, one should think about it, but he was almost fifty and still so angry, isn't it just a glass of wine?
In the presence of the public, Wei Guangde did not go up to curry favor with Yan Shifan, his target was Yan Song Yange elder, but he was never optimistic about this young elder.

In the two months or so since he came to Beijing, Wei Guangde had heard many rumors about this money-greedy outsider, and taking money to do things has almost become an open secret in the capital.

I also have to admire the prosperity of the Yan family's holy family. It can almost be said that the city is full of troubles, and the Yan family can still do nothing.

In the next few days, Wei Guangde and his contemporaries began to eat, drink and have fun in the capital. For the subsequent palace examination, everyone actually didn't feel any pressure, because they had already ranked well in the general examination, so there was nothing to look forward to.

As for continuing to study, hoping to stand out in the imperial examination, let's go to sleep.

At the bottom of the top three, Wei Guangde had no idea about the imperial examination at all, if he had any, it was how to bribe the elder Xiaoge so that he could arrange a better position for himself.

This kind of business, Mr. Yan Ge never touched, it was Mr. Xiao Ge who came forward.

When the time came to March [-]th, at noon, Wei Guangde heard the news that Zhang Ke had heard when he was out, which was the arrangement of the examiner for the palace examination tomorrow.

In the Fengtian Hall of the Forbidden City, the chief eunuch Huang Jinzheng read out the decree aloud in the eunuch's characteristic high-pitched voice:

".Yi Tingshi ordered the young master and the prince's Taishi's official department official Yan Song, the scholar of Huagaidian, Shaobao and the prince's Taifu's minister of rites and Wuyingdian's scholar Xu Jie, the prince's Taibao's minister of rites and Wenyuange's scholar Lu Ben, Prince Taibao Minister of Military Affairs Xu Lun, Minister of Officials Wu Peng, Minister of Hubu Fangdun, Minister of Punishment He Ao, Metropolitan Procuratorate Zuodu Yushi Zhou Yan, Zhan Shifu Zhan Shifu Zuo Shilang and Academician of the Imperial Academy Min Rulin, Ministry of Industry Lei Li, the right servant, Zhao Wenhua, the right servant of the Ministry of Industry, Zhang Shunchen, the Minister of Dali Temple, Yin Tai, the minister of Shaozhan and a scholar of the Hanlin Academy, and Yuan Wei, a scholar of the Imperial Academy, read the scrolls."

Like the previous general examinations, in addition to being directly appointed by the emperor to read the examination papers, there will also be officials from the Ministry of Rites to invite the officials to be transferred, the officials who accept the examination papers, the officers who seal the examination papers, the officials who supervise the examination, and the officials who hold the examination papers. .

After the early dynasty ended, Fengtian Palace was completely handed over to the Ministry of Rites, and they had to make various preparations for tomorrow's palace examination.

The palace examination is very solemn and grand for the imperial court.

However, for the tributes who are about to enter Fengtian Temple to participate in the palace examination, there is nothing they can do except say "oh".

That night, all the tributes who participated in the palace examination chose to go to bed early to recharge their energy and prepare for tomorrow's palace examination.

In the early morning of the second day, Wei Guangde got up early, and under Zhang Ji's service, he put on a brand new round-neck t-shirt student uniform to participate in the palace examination.

According to the usual practice, Emperor Jiajing would still choose to visit Fengtian Hall in person even if it would affect his great career of cultivating immortals, but the time may be shortened a lot.

Wei Guangde had watched TV before, and the scene where Emperor Yongzheng held the lamps for the candidates in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, Wei Guangde believed that it would never happen.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony at that time, which is now the Hall of Fengtian, is known as the "Dian of Jinluan" among the common people.

In Jiaxuyin time in March of the 35th year of Jiajing, Wei Guangde was wearing his own blue shirt, and three hundred tributes including Lao Kan had already gathered outside the Daming Gate. Under the arrangement of the officials of the Ministry of Rites, everyone stood according to the ranking of the examination.

Lao Kan naturally went to the front, while Wei Guangde, Zhang Ke, and Xia Kefan could only stay behind.

After the Dianmao was completed, it was confirmed that all [-] tributes were present, and the officials of the Ministry of Rites asked if anyone could not refer to it.

There is no doubt that Gongshi will automatically be qualified for the palace examination. The reason why the officials of the Ministry of Rites asked this question here is naturally out of etiquette. Stop the palace examination this time, and wait until three years later to participate in the palace examination with the next Gongshi.

Naturally, no one answered his question.

After confirming that it was correct, the officials of the Ministry of Rites led all the tributes to enter through the side door of the Daming Gate and walked along the long corridor.

There are tall red walls on both sides of the passage, but Wei Guangde knows that behind the walls are several important government offices of the imperial court. The government offices of the five armies, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Officials, and the Ministry of War are all nearby.

Here is the so-called Thousand-step Corridor in later generations.

Perhaps because the red wall blocked the view, Wei Guangde couldn't tell what was here in the later generations for a moment, and he had no idea at all.

At this time, the sky was very dark, and only a stone lampstand placed not far from both sides of the corridor emitted this light, illuminating a small area around it.

When they walked out of the end of the corridor, their sight became wider, and what they saw in front of them was the city gate that Wei Guangde had seen before—Chengtian Gate.

When watching the Aoshan Lantern Festival before, they didn't come in from Daming Gate, but from Chang'an Street on both sides. At this time, the streets on both sides have already been closed.

Chengtianmen.

When Wei Guangde saw this familiar city tower, he immediately knew where he had just walked. The yamen on both sides of the corridor in later generations should have been flattened and turned into the Great Hall of the People and a museum. The corridor was widened, that is, Tiananmen Square is gone.

Wei Guangde inadvertently turned his head and looked at the corridor behind him, but it was this inadvertent action that made him immediately reprimanded by the Ministry of Rites or the Yushi of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

"Don't look around."

Wei Guangde had no choice but to turn around obediently, respectfully follow behind the person in front and move on.

After being inspected by the Jinwu Guard here, pass through the Chengtian Gate. This is an urn city with walls and gates on both sides and in front. When later generations arrived here, they had already entered the Forbidden City.

Wei Guangde thought in his heart.

Three hundred tributes marched in an orderly formation under the leadership of officials from the Ministry of Rites, which made Wei Guangde feel a little bit more delusional. When Li Zicheng's vagrant army captured Beijing in later generations, they might not enter the palace in such an orderly formation. It may have happened only during the time of the Eight-Power Allied Forces.

In Wei Guangde's impression, he vaguely remembered seeing an old photo, and he didn't know which country's army it was.

Wei Guangde's mood became low for some reason.

He had been here before, perhaps walking at the same pace as a refugee army, walking in casually like a stroller, and at the same time looking around to see what the emperor's house looked like.

Wei Guangde still vaguely remembered that there seemed to be a house on the left side of the front door, which seemed to be the ticket office selling tickets for the Forbidden City.

Wei Guangde only dared to think about these things in his heart, he didn't dare to look at them randomly now, he was born in a military household, so he knew a little bit about discipline.

After passing through the Duanmen, there are already people standing under the front gate, all of whom are ministers of civil and military affairs who went to court today.

The first and fifteenth day of the lunar new year is the Grand Court Meeting, and officials in Beijing have to participate, not to mention that today is the day of the palace examination, so I rushed here without any special delay, maybe I want to relive the road I have traveled.

In the crowd, most of them have come all the way like them.

The tribute queue stood still behind the ministers, and most of the civil and military officials turned their heads to look at them, and many of them were talking to the people around them, pointing at them with their fingers.

But at this time, Wei Guangde, standing in the crowd, was really in a bad mood.

The memory of that night came back to his mind.

When the Ming Dynasty fell, it was the Qing Dynasty, and the Han people became slaves, and then there is the history of humiliation in modern times.

In the past, Wei Guangde only thought about muddling along. He didn't believe that a scumbag like himself could change anything. The wheel of history was not something a little butterfly like him could influence.

If you try to change, maybe you will be crushed to pieces.

The era I traveled through was not bad, at least it was not the time of Chongzhen. Even if I passed the Jinshi examination in that era, I was afraid that I would not dare to come to Beijing to take the test. The road to the north is really dangerous and unpredictable.

It's just that my descendants are afraid that they will suffer, and I don't know whether it is my grandson or which generation.

By this time, Wei Guangde's preparation for the exam was gone, only heaviness remained.

Perhaps it was time, Wei Guangde heard the sound of bells and drums, and several doors towards the room under the corner were also opened, some officials came out from inside, and they walked directly into the left and right doors that had been opened on both sides of the Meridian Gate. They followed them through the left and right tuck doors.

Those who walk in front are all red official robes, while those in blue official uniforms can only follow behind them, just like the queue of tributes, because of the rankings, the hierarchy is strict.

Wei Guangde's heart was a little heavy at this time, and seeing the situation in front of him again, he felt a sense of unwillingness in his heart.

For those who are destined to be top three, under normal circumstances, they may not have the opportunity to wear that scarlet robe and become a fourth-rank official, but...
The memory of just now reappeared in his mind. Who knows who mentioned it in later generations, the Ming Dynasty perished, the backbone of the Han people was broken, and only humble servants remained.

Although it was only a few years since he came to the Ming Dynasty, Wei Guangde has already seen too much darkness in this era.

Think about the conclusion that the Ming Dynasty actually died of finances in later generations, did the Ming Dynasty have no money?
(End of this chapter)