Chongzhen revised the imperial edict for the destruction of Fengyang’s ancestor tomb and issued a new reward.

This move made the new Jinshi in the capital feel very excited, and it seems that he has received a big melon that "someone is about to make achievements and be named a marquis and ministers."

The people and even the thieves from all walks of life were almost excited and began to gossip "How long can Zhang Xianzhong live?"

It is said that when this news was later announced to the provinces and spread to the Shangluo Mountains on the border between Shaanxi and Henan, even Li Zicheng, who is still hiding in the Shangluo Mountains to collect people and fight guerrillas, was jealous and even had an idea:

"Damn! Why is Zhang Xianzhong's head so valuable? Then if we chop him up, can we be appointed as a marquis and generals and clear our previous crimes?"

Don’t think it’s strange that Li Zicheng thinks so. In history, Li Zicheng has not had much foresight on conquering cities and land, nor has he thought about building a base well, and he will do whatever he wants.

Finally, he fought Shanxi. Before Ningwu Pass defeated Zhou Yuji, Li Zicheng was still asking Chongzhen to whitewash the canonization.

It was completely like "I have occupied a province. Do you Chongzhen recognize me or not? If you don't recognize me, I will fight another province. If you don't recognize me, you will fight another province. If you don't recognize me, you will fight another province." In the end, when I met Chongzhen, I would rather die than surrender, and I fought to the capital.

(Note: There is no meaning of Hei Chongzhen in this regard. Chongzhen has many mistakes, but it is right to swear to never surrender. The sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Ming Dynasty cannot be surrendered)

Anyone's ambitions are gradually expanding. When they first started, they always wanted to make a small goal first, or be a general in the Western Expedition.

Of course, Li Zicheng is now a fantasy, but he won’t take action immediately. He is also scheming and knows how to wait and see the situation.

I want to see if the people of the world really attacked Zhang Xianzhong after the emperor's new oath was announced. If Zhang Xianzhong's life was really hard, Li Zicheng would not be able to go down the mountain to pick peaches and grab the heads. If Zhang Xianzhong was not in a desperate situation, then let others go first.

In addition to Li Zicheng, other battalions such as Luo Rucai and Junzhou, and the Fifth Battalions of the Left, are still thinking so for the time being, and they all want to wait for the government army to take action first and see the direction of the wind.

As a result, after a round of trouble, the most active and exciting ones were the newly promoted officials and Jinshi. These people had no experience in the officialdom and felt that there must be brave men under the rewards, and their desire to underestimate the enemy was beyond words.

...

On the tenth day of March, this is also a week after the palace examination was announced.

The appointment of the three hundred new Jinshis has finally completed a small half. The top 60 first- and second-level personnel, except for a few special cases, have been short of all the others.

The tail of Shen Shuren, the second-class crane, also "offended" the emperor, which obviously belonged to the category of "special situation".

The remaining 240 people, the three-level and Jinshi, were too large, and the Ministry of Personnel did not have so many shortages, so there was only one start for the time being.

The same year who was busy studying before the exam took advantage of their free time to wait for their jobs and were also at the Qinlou and Chu Pavilions in various places in the capital, gathering for daily drinking and literary gatherings and listening to music and having sex with girls.

In this environment, the topics that everyone chats about naturally have no choice but to have a future.

Every day, I either heard that I went to Hanlin as an editor in the same year, or that I was sent to the rich places in the south, and some were placed in Henan, Huguang, Anlu, and places where many officials were killed by thieves and were seriously vacant.

If it was in previous years, I heard that I was assigned to the area where the thieves were rampant in the same year, most of the others would feel that the rabbit died and the fox was sad, and that the object hurt his kind.

But the situation this year is completely different. Many of the officials who were divided into the area ravaged by Zhang Xianzhong were quite confident and thought it was a good opportunity to make a fortune.

Fang Yizhi, who was with Chen Shuren's brother, was assigned to his hometown and went to Tongcheng, Nanzhili to become the county magistrate, defending the territory and fighting against the thieves, and soon he had to take office.

This situation is hard to imagine in the peaceful years. Although the Ming Dynasty did not strictly implement the "appointment of officials from other places", it was generally tried to stagger it.

Nowadays, the thief is too serious. The emperor and the Ministry of Personnel feel that local officials in their hometowns are more likely to defend their hometowns and are unlikely to sell off their fellow villagers to cooperate with the thieves, so they have to be appointed as officials from their original homes.

On this day, it was the day for Fang Yizhi to practice. Chen Shuren chose the most famous brothel in the capital and set up a few tables. There were also more than a dozen second-class Jinshi who had just become familiar with them recently, and they all came to drink and listen to music.

After the palace examination was announced, the top two Jinshis were naturally divided into three small groups that each had more fun based on their political tendencies.

The largest group, led by Wei Zaode, Gao Eryan and others, accounted for more than half, with thirty or forty. They all advocated moral kidnapping and singing high-profile when the imperial court asked that day.

Secondly, there were only about ten of the two groups, each accounting for about 20%. One faction was Chen Shuren who advocated the emperor's pragmatism and not seeking fame. Another faction was mixed with the scattered people and had no idea.

Among the pragmatic factions, Chen Shuren was led by Zhihe Chuanlu Ge Shizhen, while the other seven or eight were followers.

Ge Shizhen doesn't like to talk about moral education, has a simple style of doing things, likes quantitative calculations, and considers costs. He is a pragmatic talent. He should have been the second place, but now because of the butterfly effect, his ranking is still enough to win the respect of this group of people.

Chen Shuren ranked at the bottom, but was still respected and praised because he dared to make a fuss. The civil servants of the Ming Dynasty all admired his colleagues who were beaten by the emperor's court. Chen Shuren did not, but the effect was similar.

Among these people, Cai Gongming from Quanzhou, Ma Minglei from Hanzhong, Yan Hun from Anqing, Sun from Linyi, Song Mingke from Song, Yao Xuzhi from Huzhou, and Ren Hongzhen from Wuchang.

Although it is impossible for the history books that Chen Shuren read before time traveling through time, most of them did not know them at first.

But in fact, this group of officials has been more honest in history.

Among these people, Cai Gongming should have died in the battle of Zhang Xianzhong's attack on Sichuan in the future; Ma Minglei followed Shi Kefa to defend the city and died at the hands of Duoduo, Yangzhou for ten days;

Yan Hun, Sun Yizhi, Song Mingke, Yao Xuzhi, Ren Hongzhen either sent local officials or worked in the six ministries of Nanjing. In history, at least he could have refused to become an official after the fall of the Ming Dynasty, or died of worries and anger, or died of hunger strike.

The worst of them should be Song Mingke. He died in the battle of Denglai when Duoduo went south. However, he left behind some literary works by Qiu Qing, which were cited and revised by Lu Liuliang of the Qing Dynasty many years later, and triggered literary inquisition during the Yongzheng period.

After the Qing Dynasty emperor split the coffin and killed the corpse, he still couldn't relieve his anger, so he dug out the literati of the previous dynasty that Lu Liuliang had quoted. Song Mingke had been dead for more than 80 years at that time, and his body was rotten and he could not kill the corpse. The Qing Emperor ordered the change to be crushed and ashes.

In contrast, Wei Zaode's faction is now very powerful, but in the future there will be three traitors, and many of them are actively surrendering to the Qing Dynasty to seek official positions.

Of course, those who sing high-profile people cannot be traitors, and some of them are truly committed to moral integrity.

For example, Chen Chunde of Yongzhou was the one who shouted the most moral cleanliness slogan in this Jinshi class, so he was appointed as a censor and stayed in Beijing, specifically responsible for slandering people.

But he is indeed tough. When Li Zicheng conquered Beijing in history, he heard that after Chongzhen hanged himself, he also hanged himself to sacrifice his country, which was worthy of the emperor.

Unfortunately, people like Chen Chunde only account for at most one or two percent of the moral role models, and the rest are all hypocrites who shout slogans.

...

Even though Chen Shuren doesn't know too many historical details, he still has a good view of people. Whether a person has backbone can tell from his daily style of conduct.

For these like-minded people in the same year, he will definitely be loyal to his wealth and make friends and win over him. When he comes to the local area, he will also have more friends to help him.

At the practice banquet given today, Cai Gongming, Ma Minglei, Sun Yizhi, and Song Mingke, four who were also released from the country, toasted Fang Yizhi and wished him to be assigned to the forefront of fighting with Zhang Xianzhong's thieves.

"Brother Fang, you are young and have a high school life. You can still fight Lin Yangcheng in Tongcheng. There will definitely be a bright future in the future, and it is not something that we old people can compare with.

Your Majesty is so magnanimous, maybe when you arrive in Tongcheng, Lin Yangcheng Liu Xiyao will turn against you and surrender to Lilly, lead the way for the imperial soldiers and fight back to kill Zhang Xianzhong."

The places where these four people were released were either Sichuan or Shandong, and they were not as close to the war zone as Fang Yizhi.

They were still a little fanatical as soon as they entered the official career. They all felt that Zhang Xianzhong would be finished soon and that anyone would make a contribution.

Among them, Sun Yizhi and Song Mingke were all in their forties, and their beard was a little gray. They passed the exam four or five times before they passed, but they had no political experience like young people and had a relatively underestimated attitude.

Fang Yizhi has a lot of contact with Chen Shuren, and his hometown is on the front line. He also knows the combat effectiveness of the thief and does not dare to underestimate the enemy. After drinking, he just responded cautiously:

"You guys are too proud. Zhang Xianzhong has been repeatedly saying that he has been in trouble for many years, so how could His Majesty be able to deal with it with just one pledge? We still have a long way to go. Let's encourage each other and do our best for the country."

Fang Yizhi's words like a little cold water made the other people a little unhappy, and they thought Fang Yizhi was so modest that he was almost hypocritical.

When Ma Minglei, who was assigned to Yangzhou as the county magistrate, heard this, he pulled Chen Shuren beside him and asked him to say something fair:

"Brother Chen, we are not secretly talking, we are all our own people. I know that Your Majesty's Taimiao oath is actually the idea you gave. How long will it take for Zhang Xianzhong to be awarded the title?

With your talents, although Your Majesty dismisses you as the last place in the second grade, he will definitely be reused in the place of the outside. Before your exam, you were the seventh rank, and this time, the outside will definitely be more reused than Brother Fang. Don’t you want to get a job that fights Zhang Xianzhong?”

Chen Shuren didn't expect the topic to be wrong, but just shook his head indifferently: "The Ministry of Personnel has not appointed me so far. There may be some variables. Who made me the last place in the second grade?

As for Zhang Xianzhong, it is not that easy to deal with. I am sure that those who think this thief will be eradicated will probably be ordinary people, new officials in the court, or leaders of other factions among the thief.

But most of the old ministers and generals in the court would not be so optimistic - only they know how shirkable the court officials were to His Majesty’s will. It is true that they can be the marquis of Zhang Xianzhong, but who will be the first to be the leader?

From my perspective, except for Mr. Yang, who has no choice but to be responsible for the overall coordination, has to use his life. I don’t know how many people want to avoid hard bones and pick soft meat to eat. After a few months, the limelight fades away, and maybe it’s Lao Fang’s comment again.”

Chen Shuren's tone was cold, and he also heard the other people's same year quite depressed.

Indeed, in terms of understanding the official atmosphere, these people who have just passed the exam are indeed far inferior to those who have been in office for more than half a year.

No matter how high the reward for killing the enemy is, with the current decadence of the Ming Dynasty, no one wants to be the one who outputs first, and they are waiting for the final blow.

The atmosphere at the wine party suddenly became a little depressed.

Just as everyone was looking for some good news to comfort me, a guest suddenly came in at the gate of the raft, asked the madam and found the place, and went straight to the flower hall where Chen Shuren and others gathered.

Everyone looked closely and found that this person was the second-class student in the current year, and Master Huang Yun of Jiujiang. This person was relatively silent before, and he didn't speak much when Chongzhen asked in front of him, so he was considered a centrist.

Master Huang Yun walked up to Chen Shuren and bowed to him to tell him a message: "Brother Chen, the Ministry of Personnel has assigned the last batch of second-class people to be appointed today, and you and I are all in this batch.

I'm here to report a letter to you. You were temporarily transferred to the Hanlin Academy to compile the compilation. You are responsible for the historical clerk with the first-class person. I don't know why I made such a arrangement in the end. However, the Ministry of Personnel revealed some news and said that you should be the editor for a short time and will be released soon, so that you can be patient."

Everyone next to him was surprised to hear that some were happy for Shenshu people, and some were worthless for him.

It is not worth it for him because the circle has been formed now. All of them think that Wei Zaodegao is a temptation to be a tyrant and does not want to be with those people. Even if Chen Shuren goes, he will probably be excluded.

What was happy for Chen Shuren was that he felt that Hanlin editors were treated as the first-class editor after all, and Chen Shuren enjoyed high standards at this time.

Only Chen Shuren himself knew that when he was congratulating friends of the same year, he would either express his congratulations or not worth it, he would signal everyone to be at ease:

"Everyone doesn't have to worry or congratulate you. I know what's going on. Since the Ministry of Personnel said that I'm going to do this for a short time, His Majesty will wait for the results of the grain transportation reform in various places to be returned.

This time I came to Beijing, I was escorted to Shanhaiguan and Ningyuan, and took the exam along the way. Now the canal and the Bohai Sea have been completely thawed. March and April are the peak season for the northern transportation of grain collection in winter last year. Your Majesty is keeping me in Beijing to observe. It depends on the merits and demerits of the canal reform to save fees before finally deciding my position as an external official."

After hearing what he said, Ma Minglei, Song Mingke and others congratulated him: "So that's the case, I wish my brother a smooth pass. At that time, I will be able to show off his skills in the matter of surrounding Zhang Xianzhong."

"That's right, even if those old civil and military officials are clear about protecting themselves, I believe that as long as I have the chance, I will definitely do my best. I will set an example for those who are loyal and righteous in the world!"

Faced with these compliments, Chen Shuren also smiled bitterly. These people still thought it was so easy to deal with Zhang Xianzhong. Sure enough, they had never experienced the beatings of the officialdom and the battlefield.
Chapter completed!