In the last few days at the end of the year, since he didn't have to go to work, Shoufu Shen Shixing could finally sleep until he woke up naturally every day. Apart from meeting visitors and attending parties, he had nothing to do.
After a few days of this, on the 29th of the New Year, Shen Shoufu suddenly felt that something was missing from his days.
He called his eldest son, Shen Yongmao, and asked, "Has Lin Tailai come to bother you in the past few days? Has he ever caused any trouble?"
Shen Yongmao replied: "Not yet."
Shen Shoufu said doubtfully: "With Lin Tailai's character of never giving up until he reaches his goal, why would he give up so easily? He doesn't want to publicize his literary name?"
Shen Yongmao carefully took out a piece of paper from his arms, "He must be thinking of finding another way."
Shen Shoufu took the piece of paper, but the movement was a bit too big. Shen Yongmao kept shouting: "Father, be careful, don't tear it!"
Shen Shoufu was a little puzzled, what's so distressing about a piece of torn paper?
Then he looked up and saw a poem manuscript printed on it, with the preface: "Yu Lin Tai came to the capital as a guest and wrote five miscellaneous thoughts at the end of the year."
Shen Shoufu chuckled a few times. It seemed that after Lin Tailai was rejected by various government banquets, he became so anxious that he distributed small leaflets to spread poetry.
See the main text again: "First of all, there is a beautiful feast in the official pavilion every year, and snow flakes come with the spring to present auspiciousness. But jade trees are added to the courtyard, so the forest is decorated as a Yaotai.
When the Xie family was fighting for a meeting and chanting, Liang Yuanning gave a brief reminder. Ying Qu was so long that he called Song Yu, and it was only when he grew old that he never regained his old tune."
It can be seen from the first sentence "The banquet is held in the official pavilion at the end of the year" that it describes the recent phenomenon of official banquets for officials of all sizes.
However, Shen Shoufu could see the strong irony from the sentences such as "Lin Xiu used her makeup as a Yaotai".
The phrase "You can never grow old again" satirizes a large number of old bureaucrats who are addicted to officialdom and have lost their talent. Former No. 1 Scholar Shen Shoufu felt offended.
As a person who hopes to become the "Prime Minister of Peace", Shen Shixing does not like this kind of poetry that satirizes current affairs.
Shen Yongmao said: "I think it's okay? This poem is still very popular among young scholars and officials. Everyone likes this kind of strange poem."
"Only villains and women are difficult to raise!" Shen Shixing said: "It is simply wishful thinking to publicize talent and fame just by publishing a few poem manuscripts."
If one could become famous by printing and distributing poems, then all the bookstore owners would be famous poets.
If it doesn’t have influence among the upper class, it doesn’t spark discussion, no matter how much it is printed, it will only be used as toilet paper.
Shen Yongmao smiled and said: "It's not that simple. There is another line at the end. Father, please take a closer look."
The first assistant looked at it again and found out that there was a line printed at the end of the paper:
"Collecting the five poems in this group is called gathering the five blessings. Anyone who collects the five blessings before the Lantern Festival will receive Lin Tailai's promise of a thousand pieces of gold."
Shen Shixing: ""
No wonder there is only "One" on this piece of paper, but not "Second" to "Fifth".
If you collect five poems, can you get Lin Tailai's promise? I really can't understand how young people play nowadays.
Shen Yongmao carefully took the manuscript back from his father's hand.
Seeing the big boy's actions, Shen Shixing asked in surprise: "What? You also want to make up five articles?"
Shen Yongmao replied very definitely: "Of course, I have one, three, and five now, but I am still missing two and four.
Lin Tailai, who has killed a thousand swords, must have very few two and four seals. I have asked all my friends, and no one has two and four at the same time and is willing to give them away."
Shen Shoufu asked again: "Many people are very enthusiastic about this matter?"
"Idle time is also idle. Everyone is trying to get five cards together, just to have some fun!" Shen Yongmao said.
Shen Shoufu questioned: "What do you have to pursue? What use is Lin Tailai's promise?"
For the son of a chief minister, is there anything that Lin Tailai can do that his father can't do?
Shen Yongmaochang thought about it and said: "I have a colleague who is always sarcastic and sarcastic at me, but father, you will only make me endure. When I gather the five blessings, let Lin Tai come and beat him!"
Shen Shixing snorted coldly: "It's just grandstanding! That's what a wise man wouldn't do."
I don’t know if I’m talking about Lin Tailai or Shen Yongmao.
At noon, Shen Shoufu went to the Hanlin Academy to attend a public banquet. The cabinet and the Hanlin Academy were institutionally the same family, and the banquet was also together.
At this time, the banquet had not yet started, so Shen Shixing went to the Zhuangyuan Hall in the west wing of the atrium to rest.
As the name suggests, the Number One Scholar Hall is the place in the Hanlin Academy specially provided for the number one scholar to work as a sign of honor.
When Shen Shixing first entered officialdom twenty years ago, he started in the Zhuangyuan Hall.
At this time, there were only two "young people" in their thirties and forties in the Number One Scholar Hall, who were whispering to each other.
One is Zhu Guozuo, the number one scholar in the eleventh year of Wanli, and the other is Tang Wenwen, the number one scholar in the fourteenth year of Wanli.
When the two saw Shen Shoufu, they quickly stood up and saluted, calling him "senior".
Shen Shoufu looked around and sighed: "The industry is withering away. There are only two newcomers like you. I wonder who the next newcomer will be?"
Before Shen Shixing, three consecutive top picks died young at the age of 40 or 50, otherwise Shen Shixing would not have been able to take over so easily.
It has to be said that Shen Shixing, who was promoted to the cabinet by Zhang Juzheng in his forties and became the chief minister after Zhang Juzheng was liquidated at the age of forty-eight, is also a son of luck in a sense.
"Some time ago, senior Zhang Yuanhao who was in the fifth year of Longqing was gone." Zhu Guozuo replied.
Speaking of the top picks behind Shen Shoufu, except for the two rookies Zhu Guozuo and Tang Wenwen, most of them are quite unlucky so far. They either died, Ding You, or Zhang Juzheng's son.
Only Luo Wanhua was still in the officialdom, but he got too close to the Qingliu forces and was sent to Nanjing by Shen Shoufu.
Shen Shixing recalled the glorious past and sighed: "Let's not talk about those sad things. What were you talking about just now?"
Zhu Guozuo replied respectfully: "Have seniors ever heard of collecting the Five Blessings?"
Shen Shixing: ""
Suddenly not wanting to talk to these two rookies, Shen Shoufu went out again and found his old comrade Shen Yiguan chatting in the middle hall.
Inadvertently, I saw two editors, Li Tingji and Guo Zhengyu, standing in the corridor of the editing hall, each holding a few pieces of paper, discussing something intensely.
I vaguely heard "If you give me five, I only have one less card" and "Why didn't you give me three?"
Shen Shixing asked Shen Guanyi: "Hanyuan Cichen is also collecting five blessings? Don't you care about this senior?"
Shen Yiguang felt embarrassed and took out a few pieces of paper, "Isn't this nothing? Collecting poems to create blessings can be considered an elegant game, but it's quite difficult to collect them all."
Shen Shoufu finally understood that this was a performance art from beginning to end, and Lin Tailai used himself as a source of entertainment to get others to participate.
Normally, doing this might be considered grandstanding. But now is the time to celebrate the New Year, and it is not against the rules for everyone to have fun together.
And this is fun that allows a lot of people to participate collectively, so it naturally makes a few poems more popular.
People have almost arrived, but the table has not started yet. Everyone seems to be waiting for something in a tacit understanding.
Sure enough, in the afternoon, a eunuch who was in charge of etiquette came to the Hanlin Academy and asked everyone to compose poems on the theme of "New Year" and present them to the emperor.
This is the reserved program of the Hanlin Academy banquet every year, and only the Hanlin Academy has such unique treatment.
Everyone has been prepared for this, but New Year-themed poems have been poorly written since ancient times, and it is not easy to be outstanding.
Soon after that, an old man in his 60s, who was rare in the Hanlin Academy, emerged from the crowd and was the first to submit the poem manuscript to the eunuch, the eunuch.
Whose general was so active? Shen Shixing looked closely and saw that it was Zhao Zhigao, the right minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, who was more than ten years older than himself.
The official banquet of the Hanlin Academy is not limited to serving Hanlin Ci ministers. Senior officials who have served as Ci ministers in the Hanlin Academy can also come to reminisce about the past.
Of course, people who don't get along well are generally too embarrassed to come.
Old Man Zhao had worked as an editor and an attendant in the Hanlin Academy, and had edited "Records of Emperor Mu Zong". He was born as a Ci official in Miao Hong, so he was certainly qualified to come to the Hanlin Academy to reminisce about the past.
After the ceremonial eunuch and the eunuch collected a large number of poems, the Hanlin Academy banquet officially began.
Everyone started eating, drinking, drinking, and exchanging five blessings
When the show was about to end in the evening, the eunuch and eunuch in charge of rituals came from the palace again and announced directly:
"The one who is best appointed by the emperor is Zhao Zhigao, the right minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs! Enter the left minister and reward him with fifty pieces of satin!"
This result surprised everyone. There are many talented people in the Hanlin Academy, but Old Man Zhao is not very outstanding and is not good at poetry and literature. How come he came out on top today?
Although it is impossible to complete the transition from the right minister to the left minister with just one poem, there must be preparations in advance.
But the foreshadowing just means that it is still in the process, and it does not mean that there will definitely be a result.
So it was probably this poem that moved the emperor and completed the final step, naturally approving Zhao Zhigao's appointment as Zuoshilang.
In the ten years from the fifth year of Wanli to the fourteenth year of Wanli, Old Zhao had become unknown outside and was forgotten by the world.
As a result, there was a sudden counterattack in the past two years. He was more than 60 years old, and in two and a half years, he was promoted from an agent in Nanjing Imperial College to the left minister of the Ministry of official affairs, just one step away from reaching the top.
Life is unpredictable, nothing more so than this!
After seeing off the eunuch, everyone at the table circulated Zhao Zhigao's poem manuscript. Everyone wanted to understand how this poem moved the emperor.
All I saw was a seven-joy song:
"The candle's shadow flickers and the red flame is still bright,
Cold knows oneself well and accumulates beautiful talents.
The old minister put on his clothes in the cold,
Listen to the first call of the rooster!"
After everyone read it, they felt that although this poem was simple in diction and simple in structure, it was extremely powerful and full of pride.
And the most important thing is that among the poorly written New Year poems, this poem is very special, very innovative, and easily attracts attention.
Among a large number of New Year's Eve poems that are gorgeous in appearance but heavily routine, being able to be unique and eye-catching and impress the emperor is the greatest advantage.
However, not everyone has the ability to be particularly eye-catching and write new ideas.
Shen Shoufu found an opportunity and whispered to Zhao Zhigao: "Is this Qijue written by Lin Tailai for you?"
Zhao Zhigao smiled bitterly and said, "I still can't hide it from Shou Kui."
Shen Shoufu muttered: "The ghost is really lingering."
Even if his true form does not appear, his shadow seems to be everywhere, as long as his interests are involved.