Before dawn, Zhu Ming, Bai Chongyan, and Min Zishun were eating.
Then he went out with a lantern, Zhu Ming rode a horse by himself, and Bai and Min took a taxi.
When we arrived at the imperial city, the morning light was already fading.
Occasionally I met officials along the way, all of whom were attending court meetings.
There were four types of court meetings in the Song Dynasty:
First, the Great Court Meeting.
It is only held on New Year's Day, the first day of May and the Winter Solstice every year. All officials must come and kneel down to worship.
Second, Chang Chaoyi.
That is to say, the daily company morning meeting was formalistic and officials were often absent. It was abolished by the reign of Emperor Yingzong of the Song Dynasty.
Third, live regularly.
The emperor held tea parties every day, and officials needed to greet him and make arrangements. The emperor sometimes came every day, and sometimes only came a month or two. By the Southern Song Dynasty, it was basically abolished.
Fourth, the entrance ceremony.
It is held on the first and fifteenth day of every month. It is probably the internal team building of the company. After paying homage to the emperor, you have to take care of the food.
Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year. Taking advantage of the entrance ceremony, I conferred the official position of Jinshi to the new branch.
Zhu Ming followed the civil and military officials and waited outside the Wende Palace.
Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty also got up very early and took a carriage to the Changchun Palace to rest. He was very tired from the two cultivations last night and didn't get much rest. The emperor kept yawning.
Qin Hui's third uncle, Li Qingzhao's third uncle, Empress Zheng's brother-in-law, Cai Jing's number one political enemy, Privy Councilor Zheng Juzhong, came to the Changchun Hall as usual to report: "The official family, hundreds of officials have arrived."
Song Huizong yawned and stood up: "Let's go."
So, Zheng Juzhong led the way, and the emperor and eunuchs followed, all the way to Wende Palace to prepare for the court.
"The emperor ascends to the palace!"
The ceremonial music started and the officials arranged their queues.
After another series of procedures, hundreds of officials began to enter the palace, and the new scholars also followed.
Civil and military officials stood on both sides, and new scholars stood in the middle of the hall.
Zhu Ming held the wat tablet in his hand and saluted with all the ministers. He bowed twice, inserted the wat, danced, and bowed three times without kneeling.
Song Huizong just wanted to go back and sleep soundly. He couldn't muster any energy at the moment, so he leaned on the throne and said a few words casually, and then asked the staff to announce the status of the appointment.
Liu Huan, a member of Cai Jing's party and the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, went out to read out the situation: "He Su, the first person to be a Jinshi in the Jin Dynasty, is awarded Xuanyi Lang and is the secretary of the Provincial School Secretary!"
He Su came out to express gratitude.
Xuanyi Lang was sent from the eighth rank as a Jingguan (sending salary officer), and Secretary Provincial Secretary Lang was sent from the eighth rank.
The number one scholar is different, it is directly awarded to the imperial official.
"Pan Lianggui, the second Jinshi Jinshi, was awarded Wen Linlang, and the Guizhou scholar Cao joined the army."
This appointment was given, and all the ministers looked at him with suspicion.
The grades of being sent to official posts and sent out are correct, but sending them to Guizhou seems a bit suppressive.
Pan Lianggui smiled bitterly and went out to thank him. He knew what was going on.
He is almost thirty years old and has yet to marry a wife. A few days ago, Cai Jing wanted to marry his granddaughter to him, but Pan Lianggui refused and was thrown directly to Guizhou.
This is nothing. Wang Juzheng, who will be ranked second in the next Jinshi class, will be thrown to Jiangxi to be a county magistrate. He will be so angry that he will resign directly.
"Ju Ming, the third Jinshi scholar in the Jin Dynasty, was awarded the title of Wen Linlang and became the founder of Imperial College!"
Ju Ming came out to express his gratitude and couldn't help but look at the emperor.
Song Huizong was also interesting. He covered his mouth and yawned, then raised his hand and smiled at Ju Ming. Obviously, this official position was appointed by the emperor, which had something to do with his recommendation of Xue Daoguang.
Wen Linlang was selected from the eighth rank and sent to the third rank (to be sent to the official position), while Taixue Xue Zhengze was sent from the ninth rank (to be the teaching director of Taixue).
"Guo Xiaoyou, the fourth Jinshi scholar in Jinke, is awarded the title of Dengshilang and is a professor of Shenzhou studies!"
Guo Xiaoyou came out to express his gratitude and felt very helpless.
Starting from the fourth place, all the second-class Jinshi were appointed as state school principals. It can be seen that there were so many officials at this time that there were no good positions available for Jinshi.
Most of the top three Jinshis are state army soldiers, chief clerks, and county captains.
Sijia Jinshi, all teachers of state studies.
There are a very large number of Wujia Jinshi, and they are all awarded Di Gonglang (the lowest ones are selected from the ninth grade). There are currently no appointments, and they need to take the examination.
This is the case for Bai Chongyan and Min Zishun. The good news is that they became Di Gonglang and can start to receive their salary. The bad news is that there are no specific official positions and the competition for the examination is fierce. It is very likely that they will have no official positions within two or three years.
At noon, the emperor gave a banquet, and all the officials ate in the corridor.
Qin Hui held the wine glass and sighed. Although he had become the grandson-in-law of the late prime minister, the current Privy Councilor was still his wife's third uncle. But his third uncle was competing with Cai Jing, and the officialdom was in the hands of Cai's party.
When he was appointed, he didn't get any preferential treatment, so Qin Hui was sent to Michigan to be the principal.
Zhu Ming drank and ate meat carelessly, while Pan Lianggui, who was sitting in front of him, did not think about food or tea.
"Brother Yirong, who did you offend?" Zhu Ming poked Pan Lianggui's back with his chopsticks.
Pan Lianggui whispered: "Cai Jing wanted to recruit me as his grandson-in-law, but I politely refused. Alas, even if I follow the influence, how can I dare to tarnish the Pan family's family tradition?"
Zhu Ming was surprised and said: "Brother Yirong and Gui Geng are twenty-nine years old, and they haven't married yet?"
Pan Lianggui said: "I was too busy studying to get married. There was also an engagement. My unmarried wife died of illness before she was eighteen years old. I fell in love with her and was not interested in other women, so I declined.
Many people are proposing marriage."
Ju Ming said: "Unexpectedly, Brother Yirong is still an infatuated man."
The two chatted and ate while Cai Jing sat at the front and ate.
After swallowing a few mouthfuls, Cai Jing stood up and left, followed by his sons out of the palace.
The fifth son, Cai Chi, who had not entered the court, handed over a private letter.
Cai Jing read the letter and sighed: "Something is going to go wrong in the northwest. Tong Guan and Zheng Juzhong were too eager to make contributions, but they acted too hastily. Wang Fu was also greedy for military pay, and the soldiers in the front were bound to be full of resentment. They filled the soldiers with resentment and went to attack forcefully.
The enemy has a fortified city and if Liu Fa's army is not dispatched to respond, it is likely to result in the loss of troops and generals."
The eldest son Cai You said happily: "Once the front is defeated, Zheng Juzhong, Wang Fu, and Tong Guan will be punished by the officials, and my father can regain military and financial power!"
Cai Jing shook his head: "The worse the defeat ahead, the less favored I will be. Officials also want to save face."
The sons were all very surprised, and when they thought about it carefully, it turned out to be true.
The current military situation was arranged by Song Huizong. Even if the front was defeated, the emperor would help Tong Guan and others conceal it for the sake of face.
Cai Jing's situation was very bad at this time. In order to divide his power, the emperor made Zheng Juzhong the Privy Councilor and Wang Fu the Minister of Household Affairs, taking away all the military and financial power from Cai Jing.
Tong Guan felt this change and gradually distanced himself from Cai Jing. Because Tong Guan led the army in battle, he had to work closely with the Privy Council and the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue (after the restructuring of Yuanfeng, the money and food affairs of the three divisions were assigned to the Ministry of Household Affairs, and military ration needs
Fund raising from the Ministry of Household Affairs).
Cai Jing thought carefully for a moment and said: "After the officers and soldiers are defeated, we can impeach Wang Fu and take back the Ministry of Household Affairs! But we cannot impeach him for being greedy for military pay. This will damage the official's face. After this war, the finance department
It will definitely be difficult to support, and we only need to impeach Wang Fu for his poor financial management. In addition, I am afraid that the officials will not give him the post of Privy Councilor, so do not impeach Zheng Juzhong for the time being."
Then he said: "Let Zhu Meng offer more rare stones and try his best to please the officials, otherwise the favor of my father and son will not be guaranteed."
Cai You flattered him and said, "My father is like a god in the temple, and Wang Fu is just a prince. He can't cause any trouble."
Cai Jing continued: "The official family is alienated from me, but they are very kind to you. My father and son can act in a play, in which the father and son turn against each other. The official family will definitely like it after watching it. But we can't do it now, otherwise it will be too fake.
, we’ll talk about it after you get promoted.”
"Yes!" Cai You said with his hands in hand.
Cai Jing sighed: "The officials have taken away my military power and financial power, demoted officials from the Ministry of Rites and the Imperial College, and placed people in various Changping departments. Even the house given to our Cai family has to be moved in by Taoist priests. Alas, this
How afraid of me you are."
The third son, Cai Yi, said: "The official family cannot live without his father. When Zheng becomes the middle man, Wang Fu and others make many mistakes, and the official family has no money to use, they will surely remember the kindness of their father again."
"I hope so," Cai Jing sneered, "people like Zheng Juzhong and Wang Fu are only greedy, how can they know how to make money?"
The fourth son, Cai Suan, asked again: "Xue Daoguang has moved into Nanyuan and occupied our house. Should we drive this Taoist priest away like we did with Wang Laozhi?"
Cai Jing shook his head and said: "Wang Laozhi is too ostentatious. He invites powerful people to preach on Dharma every day, which makes our family a mess. Xue Daoguang is different. He refuses the guests who come to seek Taoism, and just practices in Nanyuan. In this case,
Just let him stay. You can also visit Xue Dao on weekdays and make good friends with him. Maybe you can make Xue Daoguang one of your own."
Cai You asked: "What about Ju Ming? Xue Daoguang was recommended by Ju Ming, and Ju Ming was awarded the title of Imperial Academy. I heard that the officials wanted to recruit his father. In time, this person will be favored by the officials."
"Ju Ming offended the poets of Dasheng during the roll call, and he offended the officials in public when he heard about the wedding banquet. This person has a strong character, and I am afraid he will not be used by me." Cai Sui said.
Cai Jing thought for a while: "You send someone to propose marriage to see if you can recruit him as your son-in-law. We have a bunch of drunkards and ricebags. They can flatter horses but not many can do anything. This Zhu Ming seems to be quite talented. Maybe he can be entrusted to him in the future.
Heavy responsibility.”
The Cai family and his son discussed various matters in detail. They had reached a low point in power again and had to work together to get out.
The next day, the Cai family sent a retainer to Ju Ming's rented house.
"Xiangong Cai wants me to be his grandson-in-law?" Zhu Ming smiled, raised his hands and said, "Xianggong Cai has all the power in the government and the public. I can only choose one person, and it is really too high for me. Please come back!"
The messenger who proposed the marriage was furious: "You know you are seeking too much, but you still dare to refuse the marriage. You are really ignorant of current affairs!"
Ju Ming said: "Those who know the current affairs are heroes. I am not a hero. I am just a disciple of the sages. After reading all the books of the sages, there is nothing that teaches people to follow and advance."
The messenger who proposed the marriage walked away in a hurry. Cai Jing recruited a grandson-in-law twice in a row, but was rejected by the second and third overall picks. Soon, it spread throughout Tokyo and became a laughing stock.
The two Jinshi who refused to marry Cai Jing became the talk of the world.