national surname chiming

Chapter 33 The Emperor's Moral Cleanliness

The imperial examinations in the Ming Dynasty were held on the first day of March and on the fifteenth day of March, and were adjusted several times in different periods.

During the reign of Chongzhen, the country was struggling in all aspects, the army was in turmoil, and people's livelihood was in decline. Most scholars may not be able to withstand the long-term consumption of the expensive prices in the capital.

So the imperial court also tried to save trouble, and uniformly changed the exam to the first day of March, so as to shorten the time for the candidates to stay in the capital after the general exam, and to pass the exam early and pass the exam.

Both Shen Shuren and Fang Yizhi participated in Chunwei for the first time, and such a tight schedule left them no time to make new friends.

Basically, after reading the list, I knew that I had the qualifications for the imperial examination, so I immediately went back to prepare behind closed doors.

……

The evening before the imperial examination, inside the Forbidden City.

After finishing the day's work, Zhu Youjian stretched his waist, taking advantage of the fact that the Minister of Rites came over every year to perform his duties, so he took care of the list of palace examinations by the way:

"Fang Qing, did you find any outstanding talents in this test. I just read the list of tomorrow's palace test. The comments you gave are all clichés. How can you tell the character of Juzi!"

Fang Fengnian came to deliver materials to the emperor, so he had no choice but to be questioned like this:

"Your Majesty, character is easy to fake, but knowledge cannot be faked. The Ministry of Rites can only judge knowledge when selecting an official. As for the character of the candidate, His Majesty can decide for himself tomorrow.

The way of the imperial examination is to reform the disadvantages of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties, and to put an end to the hypocritical people.Loyalty and filial piety are mentioned in the article, but it is not necessarily true loyalty and filial piety as a human being. "

Zhu Youjian was very upset when he heard it, but now that the imperial examination is coming up, he doesn't want to argue with Fang Fengnian.

Among these six officials, the emperor is not very satisfied with the ministers of the Ministry of Household, Ministry of Rites, and Ministry of Punishment.

Those Shangshu themselves knew it well in their hearts, they felt that being with the king was like being with a tiger, and they wanted to quit, and they didn't give the emperor face on many issues.If you are caught making a small mistake, just dismiss from office and go home and escape from the fire pit.Just don't make a big mistake and get killed.

Everyone is watching the war situation in the Ming Dynasty. Now the capital officials are really not that valuable. It is a basic operation to change a group of ministers every two years.

Needless to say, Cheng Guoxiang, the previous Minister of the Ministry of Accounting, moved it like an abacus bead, and Zhu Youjian asked the Ministry of Accounting to check things, but he had to rely on his servant Jiang Dejing to handle them.

The Ministry of Rites in front of me just met the new year, and before that, he and Liu Zhifeng, Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, had an awkward dispute with the emperor because of some judicial opinions.

The main reason is that they feel that the series of new laws introduced by Chongzhen last year to deal with corrupt officials are too cruel, not only killing themselves, but also killing their family members.They persuaded the emperor, saying that according to the current situation, such strict law enforcement may disperse people's hearts——

But Chongzhen has a temper that can't be rubbed in his eyes. Seeing them begging for mercy, he thought that Fang and Liu had collected money to make money.

Therefore, at the end of last year, Chongzhen dismissed Liu Zhifeng, who was directly responsible, and sent him to prison for investigation.The position of Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment is still vacant, and the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment will work on his behalf.

(Note: In history, Chongzhen did not catch Liu Zhifeng's clear evidence of crime in the end. Liu Zhifeng was starved to death in prison, and nothing happened.)
Fang Fengnian also knew that after Liu Zhifeng was dealt with and the coffin was finalized, it might be his turn.

Of course, he is not from the Ministry of Punishment. He was only helping to persuade a few words in that matter, and he would not be punished, but dismissal is a high probability event.

Today the emperor asked about the list of palace examinations, and said that the Ministry of Rites did not pay attention to the character of the candidates and that the comments were not comprehensive enough.

He knew that the emperor had doubts about the loyalty of all courtiers recently due to a series of cases including Liu Zhifeng.So much so that the emperor didn't care about the knowledge of civil servants anymore, he just wanted to find some moral gentlemen to help him with things, and that's why he was so paranoid.

And as a minister of the Ministry of Rites, he must remind the emperor: Since ancient times, it is impossible to rely on moral restraint. The Han, Wei and Six Dynasties selected officials based on character, and the final result was all kinds of hypocrisy. Begging for carp is actually all fake!

Zhu Youjian was put in a bad mood, and he really had the idea of ​​"removing Fang Fengnian after Chunwei's work is over".

However, these days, I still have to endure.If the Minister of Rites was taken down by the emperor before the results of the palace examination came out, where would the imperial court lose its face?
Zhu Youjian suppressed his anger, held his temper patiently, and forced Fang Fengnian to name a few upright talents from the palace examination list, and gave him the previous papers for confirmation.

Fang Fengnian was forced to have no choice but to give a few names with a sigh:
"Wei Zaode in the capital, Gao Eryan in Tianjin, the articles are all upright. However, I still say that the character cannot be seen from the wording of the article. Please be careful, Your Majesty!
In addition, there are Ge Shizhen in Ningbo, Fang Yizhi in Tongcheng, Shen Lin in Suzhou, etc. Their articles are simple in wording, their strategies are prudent, and they have a mature view of seeking the country. one look. "

Fang Fengnian didn't dare to talk nonsense, after all, the emperor wanted to read the original volume.

Sure enough, Zhu Youjian immediately asked someone to bring the papers, picked out these people, and read them carefully.The quality of stereotyped rhetoric, the pros and cons of inheritance and transformation, the emperor is not very professional, so it mainly depends on everyone's political attitude.

Sure enough, Wei Zaode's article was full of high morals, and he sang it more skillfully, which immediately won the emperor's favor.

As for the others, some are more pragmatic, giving the emperor a sense of moral disillusionment.

When seeing Shen Shuren's paper, Zhu Youjian was careful again, suddenly remembered, and asked:

"This Shen Lin looks familiar. He is responsible for reforming water transport under the Ministry of Households, right? I remember that I informed the Ministry of Households to promote the reform of water transport on a pilot basis two months ago. Why didn't Cheng Guoxiang report the latest situation!"

After watching, Zhu Youjian asked people to go to the household department to ask about the situation, and before he knew it, it was late at night.

……

The next day was the day of the imperial examination.

Shen Shuren and Fang Yizhi, along with eight other students of the same year, entered the palace one by one under the guidance of officials from the Ministry of Rites, and came to Jianji Hall.

Jianji Hall was later Baohe Hall, with Wenyuan Pavilion on the left and Wuying Hall on the right, which has always been the examination place for the palace examination.

There are a total of [-] cases in the hall, [-] rows from east to west and [-] rows from north to south. They are arranged squarely and neatly.There is no need for candidates to prepare the four treasures of the study on the table.

Chongzhen sat on the central throne and said a few words of encouragement before the exam started.

Shen Shuren also boldly took a sneak peek, Chongzhen's image was also quite unexpected, he looked a little wrinkled, thin, with mottled beard and hair, he didn't look like someone who was just about to turn 30 years old.

Soon, Chongzhen announced the exam questions himself, and the last stone in Shen Shuren's heart fell to the ground:
Sure enough, the test is how to rectify the administration of officials to deal with internal and external strife, and prevent officials from being disloyal and surrendering to thieves and being coerced by thieves who built slaves.

Shen Shuren knew very well how to flatter to get a high score, but he didn't intend to follow the steps completely when he reached the last step.

Because the point of view on today's answer sheet may be included in the history books, he does not want future generations to say that his point of view in the palace examination is purely naive and high-sounding, a hypocrite.

Fortunately, he has been preparing for this answer for a long time, he has multiple options for spare tires, and knows how to make a compromise so as not to offend Chongzhen, but also have something to say.

After making up his mind, Shen Shu was quick to answer the papers quickly.In terms of the speed of submitting papers alone, he is definitely in the top ten percent.

Because most people hadn't finished the exam, Chongzhen was able to take the time to check the first few papers in person before handing them over to the officials of the Ministry of Rites.There are too many people waiting to hand in the papers later, and the emperor can't read it, basically he won't read it.

It took a total of three hours for the palace examination, and the results would not come out immediately. In theory, two days should be allowed to mark the papers.So after the exam, Shen Shuren and others went back.

But during these two days, the emperor can also ask candidates who he thinks are good for interview strategies in advance.

The result of the policy question may also affect the final score, and the ranking is not determined entirely by the paper.

So, only the next day, the second day of March, after the officials of the Ministry of Rituals reviewed the papers overnight and roughly screened out the list of 60 people who could enter the first and second grades.Chongzhen personally summoned these 60 people and picked some questions for interviews.

As for the 240 people in the top three, the emperor has no time to ask.It is said that the emperor took it himself, but in fact, the officials of the Ministry of Rites decided on their own and went through a process.

After Shen Shuren learned that he had entered the interview range of 60 people, he knew that there was a second-class "Jinshi background" and he would not be reduced to "same Jinshi".As for "Jinshi Jidi", he didn't think about it at all, and he knew that he had no strength.

The location of the interview is not far from the Jianji Hall the day before, just to the west of the Wenhua Hall.

After everyone saluted, Chongzhen took the lead in asking his favorite Wei Zaode:

"Nowadays there are internal and external conflicts, there are many officials in the court who surrendered to thieves, and those who remain loyal to the country are becoming less and less. What do you think should be rectified? Wei Zaode, tell me first."

Wei Zaode cheered up and hurriedly came out: "Your Majesty, I believe that the civil and military aspirations are not firm and cannot be diligent in state affairs. It is mostly because the imperial court pays attention to false writings in the selection of officials, and cannot cultivate the integrity of benevolent people and the spirit of lofty ideals.

As the saying goes, knowing shame is close to being brave, but now the atmosphere in the court is not ashamed of being greedy, contemptuous and weak.There are even quite a few important officials in the imperial court who feel that the traitors in various prefectures and counties should be forgiven and given the so-called "renewal" opportunity.

As everyone knows, once this evil example is opened, although it can save one or two people who have lost their way and lost their footing, it will also make the morale of the world decadent, and people who know shame and integrity are ashamed to associate with it.If things go on like this, the atmosphere of the imperial court is declining, but it is like entering an abalone's camp, and it has been ignored for a long time. "

Shen Shuren was next to him, and he was not surprised, because he knew that this was the political attitude that the emperor himself liked to hear in the history books when the imperial examination was held in the 13th year of Chongzhen.

Sure enough, Chongzhen was overjoyed immediately, and praised Wei Zaode, a moral model with "zero tolerance for bad officials".

The other quasi-jinshi next to him listened to the emperor's attitude, and when they were asked by Chongzhen, many boneless people agreed with each other, emphasizing the importance of "purge the court atmosphere" in different ways.

Some radical candidates, fearing that their speeches would not impress the emperor, quickly turned their speeches into empirical measures.

As they were talking, several candidates said sternly that Xiong Wencan, the former supervisor of the six provinces who is currently locked in the prison, should be executed as soon as possible!

To warn those officials who are not strong in principle, have expectations for those who have surrendered to the bandits anyway, and hope that the bandits will reform themselves!

Loyalty is not absolute, it is absolutely not loyal!Questions of principle cannot be ambiguous!
Soon, the prospective Jinshi who held this kind of view left a good impression on Chongzhen.It's a pity that there are too many of them, and their rhetoric is similar, so they don't get too fancy, and the final recognition is not too high.

Beside Shen Shuren, his companion Fang Yizhi shook his head secretly when he heard this response, and whispered to Shen Shuren while others were not paying attention:

"Your Majesty personally asked, why did everyone sing high-profile together? This kind of unrealistic idea is really dangerous. How many people in the world dare to say that they have never done anything wrong to Daming?
Today, the generals who lead the troops to resist the bandits and build slaves, some are bandits anyway, and some have supported their own self-respect, preserved their strength, and trapped the superiors...there are too many problems.I really want to blame him for being shameless, judging his deeds and judging his heart, I am afraid that there are thousands of troops who are going to force Li Chuang to Jiannu. "

Shen Shuren also sighed and shook his head slightly, signaling Fang Yizhi not to worry:
"What brother said is true, but today is His Majesty's policy question, not a debate in front of the imperial court. If brother thinks what Wei Zaode said is inappropriate, he should think of another way and discuss the matter as it stands. You can't directly refute it, break it without standing."

The biggest difference between policy questions and debates is that debates can only refute the other party, and they cannot come up with solutions.

And the policy question must be "You are good at it", if you can't do it, you can't open your mouth, otherwise you will definitely be disrespectful before the emperor, and you will be severely punished by the emperor.

Fang Yizhi felt that Wei Zaode was shameless, but he really couldn't think of another solution, so he had to endure it.

(End of this chapter)