national surname chiming

Chapter 37 Let me hold back
In the same year, my friends all regretted that Shen Shuren was staying in Beijing for editing and missed the opportunity to "return to the place as soon as possible to grab Zhang Xianzhong's head".

Shen Shuren himself was not in a hurry, he was very sure that Zhang Xianzhong would not just die like this.

Chongzhen asked him to write it for two or three months, so he did it.Just in time for the decentralization, the start can be slightly higher by half a level.

Hence, from mid-March, Shen Shuren made several preparations.

On the one hand, he quietly waited for the accounts of the reform of water transportation to be delivered from all over the country, prepared to meet the doubts of the resisters from all sides, and dealt with the debate before the imperial court.

On the other hand, he also sent several letters to his hometown in the south.

The first letter was to his father Shen Tingyang, asking him to make preparations for money and food first, so as to lay some material foundation for him to come to Huidi as a local official to suppress thieves.

The second letter was to Zheng Sen, who had just changed his scientific name to "Successful". It was to ask Zheng Chenggong about the progress of the overseas species collection work that Zheng Chenggong paid attention to last year.

The last letter is to my good friend Gu Yanwu, who is now living in his hometown in Kunshan with nothing to do. Please Gu Yanwu come to the capital quickly and help him be a staff member for a while, so as to avoid the two or three months of the Hanlin Academy's editorial term.

Shen Shuren didn't intend to waste time, since the emperor asked him to make a transition, in the past few months, if he can make some achievements, he will make some achievements.

When Shen Shuren first recruited Gu Yanwu last year, he thought about using Gu Yanwu's level in the future to write some morale-inspiring theoretical articles.Let the people of the world cheer up in the future, believe that "unification of the north with the south can also be successful", and sum up the successful experience of the Han people in the past dynasties in resisting foreign enemies. Even if Chongzhen died, the people would not lose their will to resist.

This matter has been put on hold, and there is no time to focus on deployment. It can be regarded as a low-priority idle move.

Now that I am a Hanlin editor, the responsibilities of this position are related to history compilation, and I can also write some commentary articles "using history as a mirror" like Sima Guang of the Song Dynasty.So of course Shen Shuren had to seize the opportunity to be more productive while he was endorsed by an "academic authority".

As for the actual operation, of course he is only responsible for political and philosophical thoughts. The organization of the specific literary language and the substantiation of the arguments all depend on Gu Yanwu being the shooter.

The three letters from Shen Shuren were sent to the south in an expedited manner, and they were sent to Nanjing and Suzhou in only eight and ten days respectively.

After Gu Yanwu failed the provincial examination last year, he decided to stay at home and study, and never wanted to take the exam again.

Now I received a letter from an old friend, and learned that Shen Shuren had actually won the second-class Jinshi and entered the Hanlin Academy as a editor. He kindly asked him to be a staff member to learn more about knowledge and comment on history. Of course, he is willing to accompany him.

A well-read Confucian, who doesn't want to write something that points out the world and praises the ancients.With the academic authority of the Hanlin Academy compiling and compiling, it is not for nothing!

Gu Yanwu was very active, and chose to take the Shen family's sea boat directly to the north, so that he could reach the capital faster, and it was estimated that he would arrive in early April.

……

And when Shen Shuren's other family letter was delivered to his hometown in Taicang, Shen Tingyang was even more astonished to the point of incomparable surprise.

That day was March [-]th, and Shen Tingyang was calculating the shipping cost of the second batch of grain to Tianjin this year.

As mentioned earlier, the more than 100 ships of the Shen family embarked on a journey northward to transport rations to the Guanning Army in the middle of the first month.

With the navigation technology at that time, it would take half a month to sail to the north, and it would take four to five days to load and unload supplies and wait for the wind direction to recuperate, and a round trip would take forty days.

So the current time point is exactly the day when the batch of ships returned to Tianjin, reloaded with food from the south, and arrived in Tianjin again.

Shen Tingyang himself is also planning to wait for the accounts to be thoroughly accounted for and to issue a detailed report to the emperor before returning to the capital's household department to report on his work——

Historically, in June and July of the 13th year of Chongzhen, he was promoted by Chongzhen to be Yuanwailang and Langzhong of the Department of Housekeeping and Transportation because of this great achievement and saved a lot of money for the court. Division level to deputy director level and then to director level)
Now, because of his son's butterfly effect, he is helping to accelerate the reform of water transportation, and he can also hand over the emperor's order more than two months in advance and get promoted in advance.

The great achievement is imminent, and Shen Tingyang is also very excited. Recently, he has been working overtime every day until late at night, and he has to do a lot of cost accounting by himself.

Anyway, the Shen family has mastered the trade in the Yellow Sea, and now if anyone can produce the most Korean ginseng in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, it must be the Shen family.

As long as Shen Tingyang is not afraid of eating bad health, he can afford to eat Korean ginseng as a meal.

This morning, Shen Tingyang was writing at his desk, when he suddenly heard noise coming from outside, which interrupted his train of thought.

"Who is making noise! ​​I told you that there should be no noise in the house these few days!"

Shen Tingyang was interrupted from thinking about the calculation, and was so angry that he broke a jasper pen barrel, pretending to ask the housekeeper to catch the troublemaker and teach him a lesson.

His most favored concubine, who was usually able to serve next door to the study, heard the master's anger, and hurried over, fanning with a handkerchief to comfort her:

"Master calm down, I'll go out and ask, Uncle Xiang too, how can I train such an ignorant servant."

Shen Tingyang breathed a sigh of relief, thinking it would be better to just take a rest, but as soon as he got up, the noise spread to the sixth courtyard, which was faster than the tide of the sea.

Shen Tingyang saw the old housekeeper Shen Xiang panting, supported by his son Shen Shou, rushing in three steps and two steps, half-dragging and half-dragging, surrounded by a large group of servants and maids of various ranks.

The moment Shen Tingyang saw the old housekeeper appear, he realized something. He knew that something serious had probably happened, and he restrained his anger a lot. He asked with a straight face, "Why are you so surprised, just talk about it."

Shen Xiang still wanted to take a few breaths, but seeing that the maid next to him was about to speak first, he quickly held back his second breath, and rushed to say: "The young master has graduated from high school! The master is overjoyed!"

He spoke in such a hurry that he used the Daoxi postscript, and there was a big gasp between the two and a half sentences.

"High school? What about high school?" Shen Tingyang shook his body slightly, and subconsciously asked a very incongruous sentence.

In his mind, he never felt that his son was going to Beijing to take the exam seriously, but just "helped the family to escort the army rations to Shanhaiguan".

Now that you're all here, let's take another turn along the way and go to the capital for a test.

He is very clear about his son's level of education.

Back then, when the scholar was tested, the grand master looked at his identity, so he relaxed his hands when marking the papers.As for the supervisor, it is completely bought.

Later, although he was good at his skills, it was only his practical skills in governance, not the four books and five classics.

Seeing the old man standing there blankly, the ordinary servants and maids who were snatched away by the old butler just now hurriedly harassed and congratulated:
"What kind of high school can it be? It's just the imperial examination high school!"

"The eldest young master is ranked No. 60 in the second-highest ranking list. He was born as a Jinshi. I heard that he made an exception and was granted the Imperial Academy's editing and writing. The young master sent an urgent letter back. The official documents from the imperial court are probably not so fast."

Shen Shuren's letter was actually sent six or seven days later than the official report from the court, because he waited for the result of his appointment to announce the good news to his family.

It's just that Shen Shuren's family letters can travel three to four hundred miles a day, and the court's happy news is not an urgent official document. The post station only sends more than 100 miles a day, and finally arrives in Suzhou at about the same time.

Shen Tingyang was shocked for a long time by the noise of many servants and maids. Even his concubine started to congratulate him differently, and he finally accepted this reality.

"Lin'er has actually passed high school! He has actually passed high school! What kind of ancestors' blessings and gods are so obvious! My Shen family is from Longqing, a fifth-generation maritime merchant, and I can actually pass the Jinshi exam!"

Shen Tingyang's expression was so distorted, sometimes he wanted to laugh wildly, and sometimes he had to maintain his posture to hold back his laughter, he was even more startled than Fan Jin.

His family has been a maritime merchant since his great-grandfather started more than 80 years ago, and the money has never been short.However, none of the fame above the scholar was obtained through actual examination.

Under the ecstasy of Shen Tingyang, he actually felt better than earning an extra one million taels of silver.

"Hurry up, let the embroidery shop immediately pick out the best of the top-quality colored satins that are ready to be shipped! The entire porch of the mansion will be festooned! Shen Shou, I will give you half a day. Before nightfall, every pillar must be hung with gold thread." Red silk lanterns!"

Shen Shou got the order and had to do it immediately.

"Come back!" Shen Tingyang called him again worrying about gain and loss, and rubbed his hands together, "It's not a quarter of an hour away, let me read Lin'er's family letter first!"

He still has a sense of unreality, for fear of bragging and embarrassing himself.Only then did I remember that I must read the letter with my own eyes, not just listen to the oral report.

Everyone had no choice but to stand, waiting for the master to slowly read the letter word by word.Only then did Shen Tingyang let out a sigh of relief, and finally added a warning:
When decorating lanterns and festoons, you must start from the inside out, and keep quiet outside the gate until the last moment!

In this way, at least there will be a time difference of more than half a day. When the decoration in the yard is completed, if there is a change in the wind, the facade outside can stop in time.

After making the arrangements, Shen Tingyang walked to the study with his family letter in his hand, his concubine followed behind, and brought two maids grinding ink. Seeing his fidgeting, he warmly comforted him:

"Master, do you still need to calculate these accounts? Today is such a happy day, why don't you take a rest and calm your mind."

"Who cares about these broken accounts, fold them up and take them away!" Shen Tingyang waved his hand casually.

The maid Momo came up to sort out the account books carefully, and just when they were almost ready, Shen Tingyang changed his mind nervously: "No, how can such a trivial matter as Lin'er delay the emperor's life! I still have to check this account, you all go out and don't worry about it." Annoy me! Go away!"

The maid was at a loss for what to do by the master's surprise, so she had to back down.

Shen Tingyang sat at the desk, pretending to be serious about settling accounts, until the moment the maid closed the study door, he snickered again and took out the crumpled family letter, looking at Quietly and happily.

The maids have been driven far away, so even if they smirked, they wouldn't be heard.

Shen Tingyang didn't know how long he had been snickering. He probably didn't even eat lunch. It wasn't until the afternoon that a housekeeper came to report to him outside the door, and he was almost reprimanded by Shen Tingyang again.

"I tell you to get away and don't disturb me, what's the matter?" Shen Tingyang was still worried that he would lose his majesty, and his servants would hear his sniggering.

"Master, it's Wu Siye from the Nanjing Imperial Academy who came to visit. Wu Siye came from Nanjing the day before yesterday to express his congratulations. He said that he is the supervisor of Jinke, and only the young master has entered the top two."

Only then did Shen Tingyang return to anger, and hurriedly straightened his clothes.

Wu Weiye is one of the "Three Masters of Jiangzuo", a master of Jiangnan culture, and the second place in the Chongzhen five-year list.

After all, Shen Shuren was named as a student of Nanjing Guozijian. Although he had never studied with Wu Weiye, he could not escape the label of Wu's student in name.

Shen Tingyang himself was also a student of Nanjing Guozijian, and that was fifteen or sixteen years ago. Hearing that Wu Weiye came to visit, it was equivalent to the new principal of his alma mater visiting his old alumni. Of course, he had to give him enough courtesy.

"Master Wu Shan is here? Please hurry!" Shen Tingyang hurriedly arranged his clothes and went out to greet the guests with a happy face.

As soon as he saw Wu Weiye, he cupped his hands and bowed: "Wu Shanzhang came to the humble house, full of brilliance! Wu Shanzhang is worthy of Jiangzuo Xuezong, a master of the moment. The dog can achieve today's achievements, it is Wu Shanzhang's good teaching!"

(End of this chapter)