Rule over Ming Dynasty

Chapter 277 There is a feast for Rong En, and the military general's random text?
Today's scenery belongs to the three men, Liu Cunye, the No. [-] scholar, Qian Fu and Tanhua Jingui. The three walked out of the Forbidden City along the royal road, and rode on the West Chang'an Street amidst the cheers of countless people.

In the past, the filth was not enough to boast, but in the present, there is no limit to grace.

The spring breeze is proud of horseshoe disease, seeing Chang'an flowers in one day.

……

Behind this kind of scenery is naturally not how outstanding the three of them are, nor what achievements they have brought to the dynasty, but that the emperor needs to treat the three scholars preferentially in exchange for the yearning heart of scholars all over the world.

It's just that in later generations, when all places were still superstitious about the number one scholar in each province, the government took decisive steps to curb this undesirable phenomenon.After all, it is the scientists who contribute to the country, not these academic masters who can only hand in high-scoring answers in exams.

In fact, with the development of China, reading is no longer the monopoly of aristocratic and noble families. Now that the relationship between supply and demand has shifted in the current dynasty, there are already too many monks and too few officials.

Even if the dynasty does not treat champions so favorably, even if the dynasty reduces preferential treatment for scholars, how many scholars in the world are willing to be mediocre hermits?
It is said that the salaries of court officials are low, but even with such low salaries, countless scholars also fought hard and were obsessed with fame all their lives.

Of course, the court is still controlled by literati after all, and this traditional practice of serving top scholars and scholars will continue.

The game about serving the new Jinshi is still going on. In addition to the Yuma Kua Street where the first-class and third-class Jinshi are held, the most solemn thing is the Rong En Banquet led by the emperor.

Song Taizu stipulated that after the palace examination, the emperor would announce the ranking of the imperial examinations and give a banquet to celebrate.Because the banquets are all held in Qionglin Garden, it is called "Qionglin Banquet".

Only in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the official name has been changed to Rong En Banquet.

Since the eighth year of Xuande, the imperial court has stipulated that the banquet should be given at the Ministry of Rites, and that later Jinshi Enrong Banquets will be held in the Ministry of Rites, and one of the ministers will be ordered to hold the banquet.

The time quietly came to the afternoon, and the yamen of the Ministry of Rites located in Dongjiang Mi Lane was very lively.

"Zhuang Yuanlang is here!"

"Hehe... Congratulations to Brother Zhan for picking Tanhua!"

"Brother Qian, your poetry is better than Li Taibai, and your writing can govern the country and the country. You are also a role model for my generation!"

……

The six hundred and one new jinshi were in high spirits on happy occasions, and when they saw the appearance of the first-class and third-level jinshi, they all stepped forward to congratulate them.

Facing the compliments from people around him, the No. [-] scholar Liu Cunye seemed a bit "socially fearful", while Qian Fu, who was second in the list, appeared to be a "social bull".

Jin Gui was born in a prominent family in the south of the Yangtze River. His father was a Wenzhou governor and studied under Yang Yiqing.Although he is only 25 years old, he already appears to be very stable, and he is polite when facing congratulations from the people around him.

One class and three Jinshi, but it just reflects the temperament of the three types of scholars.

"Elder Liu Ge and Li Shangshu are here!"

The banquet hall, which was noisy before, suddenly became quiet, but they all turned their heads to look at the big shots present.

In addition to the [-] new subjects, there were also a group of examiners present at the banquet. The presence of so many important officials can be said to be full of attention.

According to the etiquette system, the top scholar Liu Cunye sat alone, the second place Qian Fu and Tanhua Jingui sat in the same seat, and the other Jinshi sat in the same seat according to their ranking. The order of the seats has a very strict hierarchy.

Xu Hong and other Guangdong Xinke Scholars have also come here. Originally, Gao Kui wanted to sit next to Xu Hong, but he was killed by the eyes of the No. 2 Jinshi.

In this era, the order of seats is related to their status and their rank.Now that the list has been posted, according to the unspoken rules of officialdom, even the top three Jinshi can already be distinguished.

After Gao Kui was distracted by the Jinshi's death, he once wondered if the woman he slept with last night was his wife, so he returned to his seat in despair.

"Which one is Li Yu, Minister of the Ministry of Officials?"

"Which one is Li Si, Minister of the Household Department?"

"What? You're still looking for Du Ming, Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment? You've already resigned!"

……

The [-] Jinshi present saw the important ministers present, and they also whispered to each other, but they carefully identified the important ministers in the court. Among them, Li Yu, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and Zuo Duyu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate received the most attention. Shi Wangyue.

As for Du Ming, Minister of the Ministry of Punishments mentioned, although Song Cheng found out that Du Ming was framed by Huichang Marquis Sun Ming, it is also true that Du Ming's son plotted against Qian Zhai.

However, this did not affect the Jinshi's identification of the big men of the court, but they all wrote down the appearance and official positions of these big men.

Now everyone is about to step into the officialdom, no matter whether they were related or not, they are now trying to find a backer in the court, so as to protect their official career.

History has already proved that standing in line is more important than working hard.

The most typical one is Liu Daxia. Originally, Liu Daxia and the scholar Yang Pu were already related. Because he hugged the thick thigh of his teacher Peng Shi tightly, his official career was prosperous.

Even the current chief assistant Wan An and the second assistant Liu Ji are actually fortunate to have been escorted by their teacher Gao Gu in the early years.

Only when you are really in the officialdom will you understand that almost all the promotion of officials will not be love for no reason, but members who are cultivated by various forces.

The reason why the civil official group in the Chenghua Dynasty strongly opposed Xianzong's system of appointing officials was that Xianzong regained the right to appoint personnel that originally belonged to the civil official group, making it difficult for them to promote their own people to important positions in the future. .

The [-] new jinshi who were present at the scene had already slowly acquired the rules of the official game when they passed the examination, so they naturally didn't want to miss this opportunity to hug their thighs.

They recognize the ministers first, and then they will try to make a good impression on each other, and then look for opportunities to hug their favorite thick thighs fiercely.

It is worth mentioning that after the first assistant Wan An was impeached on New Year's Day, he was no longer keen on recruiting disciples, and refused to attend the banquet on the grounds that he was unwell.

Just at this time, a middle-aged man in a unicorn suit walked in without saying a word. His unique pair of military boots and the murderous look on his body proved that he was a high-ranking general.

"Who is this man?"

"I don't know! I've never seen it before!"

"What a big show, when did our generals of Ming Dynasty dare to be so perverse?"

……

Seeing the high-ranking military general who suddenly appeared here, the Xinke Scholars in the banquet couldn't help talking, and their eyes were full of confusion.

Not to mention the important ministers such as Liu Ji, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and Li Yu, who are currently sitting in the hall, even if they are only facing them, a group of new scholars, Daming should not have such an arrogant general.

Unfortunately, this military general who suddenly appeared here ignored the important officials sitting here, and it was he who regarded himself as the real protagonist of this banquet.

"Come here, move this case to the most central position!" The middle-aged man seemed to be surprised, pointing to the empty case on the left and ordered.

The general who broke into here was about forty years old, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, his eyes were very sharp, his arms looked powerful, and he exuded a good temperament.

When the two accompanying guards heard the words, Dang even stepped forward to place the table in the center.

what?
The Xinke Jinshi present was dumbfounded, and looked at the general in disbelief, completely unable to understand who this arrogant general was, and why he dared to sit in the center of this banquet.

"Wait!" Liu Jian, the left servant of the Ministry of Rites, seemed to be blown out of anger, and stood up blushing and thick-necked to stop it.

"Hehe... there is a good show to watch!"

"Where did the military general seek his own death!"

"The left servant of the Ministry of Rites makes a move, this person is going to bring shame on himself!"

……

Seeing the majestic Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Rites standing up, the Xinke Jinshi felt as if he had been beaten with chicken blood. Let's see how the Zuo Shilang of the Rites will deal with this arrogant general.

Although military generals dominated the court at the beginning of the founding of the country, since the civil fort change, even the military power of the Beijing camp has fallen into the hands of their civilian group, and military generals have long been unable to hold their heads up.

Facing Liu Jian's sudden call to stop, the middle-aged man asked calmly, "What's the matter?"

"According to the usual practice, the imperial court ordered the military officials to sit on the left, the cabinet to sit on the right, and the scroll readers to sit according to the order of the picture. Don't you understand this rule?" Liu Jian, the left servant of the Ministry of Rites, asked with a straight face.

Imperial military minister?

As soon as this remark came out, some Xinke Scholars became aware of it later.

According to the banquet system, since the opening of the Ming Dynasty to select scholars, although the emperor will not be present at the Rong En Banquet in person, he will send a military official to attend the banquet to ensure Tianwei Zemu.

It's just that after so many years of development, the status of martial arts and generals has dropped suddenly, and the martial arts or generals sent here have no sense of existence at all.

This is exactly the case, the military officials who are now sent to "servant the banquet" are really just "servants".

For Xin Ke Jinshi, who is the military officer or general sent over can actually be replaced by A, B, C, Ding, and they don't even know that there are military officers.

However, there was a change in the Rong En Banquet this time. This military minister who appeared out of nowhere changed his weakness of the military ministers who served the banquet in the past, and even asked to sit in the middle.

"Master Cifu, who is this person sitting in the middle without following the etiquette?" An official of the Ministry of Rites looked at the middle-aged general who was born in the face, and immediately asked the previous assistant Liu Ji to inquire.

Liu Ji saw everything in his eyes, raised his wine glass and said helplessly, "Uncle Wu Jing, Zhao Chengqing!"

Zhao Chengqing and Zhu Youtang are actually from the same hometown, and his ancestor Zhao Desheng competed with the great ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang for the world.Although he died in the battle, he was granted the imperial temple in the second year of Hongwu, and he was granted the title of Liang Guogong, and commanded Tongzhi hereditaryly.

When the fourth grandson, Zhao Fu, was in Jining as the commander of the left guard, he led his troops to the north due to civil engineering changes, and then participated in the defense of Beijing.

In the first year of Chenghua, Zhao Fu, with the governor and acquaintance, Pei Zhengyi's general seal, and Han Yong, the censor of the left capital, conquered the Yao people in Dayengxia, and made Wu Jingbo because of Pingyao's meritorious service.

In the third year of Chenghua, Zhao Fu followed Li Bingdong, the censor of the left capital, as a general officer, and defeated the Jurchen of Jianzhou, and was granted the title of Marquis of Wujing.

In the eighth year of Chenghua, Wang Yue was the governor of military affairs, and Zhao Fu was given the seal of the general to flatten the captives. He led the army out of three sides to search for traps, and then traveled to Yulin and found that the Tatar tribes had penetrated into Taihang.

The officials impeached Zhao Fu for fear of war one after another, and Guo Tong even gave Zhao Fu a hat of raising the bandits' self-respect, but Xianzong did not accept it in the end.

Soon after, Emperor Xianzong recalled Zhao Fu to the admiral Jingying in the capital, which was strongly impeached by the officials.

Although Zhao Fu succeeded in admiral of the Beijing camp, but after all, he grabbed the military power of the civil servants, and soon resigned from his position on the grounds of his health, and decided to resign from the marquis in exchange for a hereditary earl.

In the 22nd year of Chenghua, Zhao Fu died, and he was granted the posthumous title of Duke Rong, posthumous title: Gongsu.

Zhao Chengqing is the son of Zhao Fu. He has loved martial arts since he was a child, and he is familiar with the art of war. He wholeheartedly wants to make contributions to the Ming Dynasty like his father Zhao Fu.

Undoubtedly, Wu Jingbo's mansion has made a lot of achievements, but Zhao Fu was not liked by the civil official group, nor did he really integrate into the Wuxun Group, so Wu Jingbo Zhao Chengqing was squeezed out to work in Nanjing.

After all, it is not the imperial court dominated by the civil service group. Wu Jingbo Zhao Chengqing was summoned back from Nanjing by Zhu Youtang, and the first imperial envoy came to the Rong En Banquet for the main banquet.

Zhao Chengqing knew that this emperor's envoy must be done beautifully, and responded lightly to Liu Jian's doubts: "Benbo received the order to come to host the Rong En Banquet! It is not only coming on behalf of His Majesty, but also the main banquet. The reason for staying on the left?"

Although there is only one word difference between "servant banquet" and "main banquet", the meaning is completely different.

In the past "servant banquet", the early martial arts can naturally be high, but now it has long been reduced to a little transparency.But now that the officiant banquet is being ordered, there is no reason to hide in the corner like a mascot, but to sit in the center openly.

At the very least let this group of high-minded Xinke Jinshi know that he, Wu Jingbo, Zhao Chengqing, has received the emperor's favor, and now he is here to host the banquet.

Zhao Chengqing knew that what Wang Zhi said was right, trying to figure out the emperor's will was the most important thing for their courtiers to do, and at the same time maintain the emperor's prestige all the time.

Now that the emperor appointed him to host the banquet, he is the most important presence here, but he can sit in the center in an upright manner, and at the same time announce the existence of Wu Jingbo Zhao Chengqing to the six hundred and one new scholars.

"Since the Ming Dynasty, military ministers' attendance at the Enrong Banquet has been recorded as a guest banquet, and there has never been a master banquet!" Liu Jian did not expect that a small earl would dare to be so stubborn, and immediately questioned.

Zhao Chengqing looked at the third-rank official in front of him, but asked indifferently: "My lord, do you not believe my words, or are you questioning His Majesty?"

In fact, he knew that this was a test. If he couldn't do this little thing well, let alone Liaodong, he would obediently go back to Nanjing tomorrow and continue to "retire".

Huh?
Li Yu, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and other officials turned their heads to look at Liu Jian, and found that Liu Jian had overreacted, or was about to openly contradict the emperor again.

"Even if the emperor sends you to the main banquet, you should sit on the left as usual!" Liu Jian knew that Zhu Youtang could do such a thing, but insisted on his position.

With so many important ministers here, what qualifications does a small martial artist have to sit in the middle? It's a big joke.

(End of this chapter)