In the Ming Dynasty, Kaifeng City was still a metropolis in the Central Plains with a population of hundreds of thousands. It was the core city in the Central Plains region and its economy and culture were very developed.
Moreover, as this place is the provincial capital of Henan, Lin Tailai must pass by it on his southern tour.
The procuratorates, feudal lords, and bureaus in Kaifeng City were all bewildered when they received Lin Tailai's circular message.
Aren't you, Lin Jiuyuan, from Suzhou? When you go back to your hometown to visit relatives, you should go to Shandong next door. Why did you pass by Henan?
Life is not so voluntary. Whether the officials like it or not, Lin Tailai on the southern tour will still pass by.
What troubles the province's senior officials the most is that when important people pass through the border, they should have the etiquette of going out of the city to greet him, but what specific specifications should be used to welcome Lin Tailai?
Under normal circumstances, the essence of all etiquette issues is two words - business as usual, as long as you follow the old rules, you will not go wrong.
But people like Lin Jiuyuan have no precedents, and there is no way to refer to them if they want to refer to them.
On the surface, Lin Tailai was just a fourth-rank Beijing official, and he did not go on a business trip under orders, but just returned to his hometown to visit relatives.
But all fools know that Lin Tailai must not be treated according to the etiquette standards of ordinary fourth-grade Beijing officials passing through the border, otherwise Lin Tailai will definitely get angry.
The standards were neither too high nor too low. Finally, the provincial government offices jointly selected a suitable person as a representative, and that was Li Weizhen, who participated in politics from the third rank.
Coming out of the city from the third rank to meet the fourth rank is not considered too slow. Lin Tailai couldn't fault it.
At the same time, Li Weizhen was also a famous figure in the literary world. First, he was the famous leader of the last five members of the retro group, and later he was the deputy leader of the New Literary League, and was nominated by the leader Wang Lao.
Therefore, Li Weizhen and Lin Tailai have some indirect connection. If this is not possible, we can start from the literary world.
When he received Lin Tailai, the first deputy leader of the New Literary and Art League outside the city, Li Weizhen and Li's mood about participating in politics was a bit complicated.
Because he is the successor to whom the old leader of the literary world has high hopes. He was once the next generation of literary leader designated and trained by the old leader.
But now everyone already knows who the next generation leader of the literary world will be.
In a sense, Li Weizhen felt that his destiny in the literary world had been taken away by the person in front of him.
"I have admired the name Jiuyuan for a long time, but I have been traveling to various provinces as an official, and I didn't want to meet him until now." Li Weizhen said in greeting.
Lin Tailai also returned the courtesy and said: "I have admired Li Jingshan's name for a long time, but it's a pity that the relationship is so narrow. In addition, Wang Tianguan of the Ministry of Civil Affairs asked me to bring a letter!"
After the death of Wang Shizhen in history, Li Weizhen was indeed the leader of the next generation of literary circles, but he failed to prevent the collapse and demise of the retro school.
According to custom, when strange officials meet, they should introduce the names of their respective departments at the beginning of the conversation - which department are you in, which department am I in, your teacher is so-and-so, and my teacher is so-and-so, and there is something familiar between us.
What does it matter?
Of course, Lin Tailai usually doesn't need to introduce himself. Who knows the achievements of the Nine Yuan True Immortal?
So the focus was still on talking about Li Weizhen's department name. Lin Tailai took the initiative and asked: "Did you study in the second year of Longqing's reign?"
Li Weizhen replied: "Exactly, I heard that Jiuyuan was friendly with Brother Zhao from Lanxi in the same department?
At that time, I was elected as a Shu Jishi and then became an editor and compiler. I was in Hanyuan with Brother Zhao and studied the Records of Mu Zong together, and our temperaments were very similar."
The Lanxi Brother Zhao mentioned here is the Sige Lao Zhao Zhigao.
Lin Tailai then responded: "Your list is really a gathering of talents, and the talents are at their peak, not weaker than the list in the 26th year of Jiajing!
Luo Wanhua, the number one scholar, is now the Minister of the Ministry of Rites, Huang Fengxiang, the second highest scholar, is now the right minister of the Ministry of Rites and a bachelor of the Imperial Academy, and senior Tanhua Zhao is even ranked as a bachelor!
Others include Wang Jiaping, who is also a bachelor, Yu Shenxing, the Minister of Household Affairs, and Chen Yubi, the Minister of Works!
Recently, there is another position, and it has been recommended to be reinstated as the director of the Hanlin Academy!
And there is Shen Yiguan, who has also reached the rank of third-grade Ci Minister Zhan Shifu Zhan Shi, but he was worried about Ding the year before last!
So every time I see the gold list of your subject, I can’t help but admire you! Among all the subjects in my country, the quality is at least among the top three!"
Li Weizhen: "."
Stop blowing, stop blowing! The hotter you, Lin Tailai, blow, the colder you feel inside!
In the same department, there are already two senior ministers, three ministers, one director of the Hanlin Academy, and one official official. Who am I?
Then Lin Tailai seemed to be very curious and suddenly asked: "I won't talk about the three tripods for now, but your Excellency, Wang Jiaping, Yu Shenxing, Chen Yubi, Zhang Wei, and Shen have always been members of the same family. Why?" Are you still participating in politics?"
Lin Tailai also knew that in history, Li Weizhen would still participate in politics even if it were more than ten years later.
At this moment, Li Weizhen felt that his heart was being pricked again and again, and his face was twitching again and again. He answered with difficulty: "Maybe it's because I am relatively young and need more training."
Li Weizhen is forty-five years old this year and in his prime. He was only twenty-one when he was a junior high school scholar. He is definitely a younger brother.
Lin Tailai shook his head and said: "Although there is indeed a factor of age, Yu Shenxing and Chen Yubi are not three or four years older than you. They are both ministers now, so the key is to follow the right person.
Even if you can't directly gain the emperor's favor, you still need to be cared for by someone powerful.
And you have been following Alliance Leader Wang Lao for so many years, no wonder you were delayed.
But everything is fine now. With my support, Old Alliance Leader Wang has become the Heavenly Official of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. As the descendant of Old Alliance Leader Wang, you can enjoy the glory and blessings for a year or two."
After some enthusiastic greetings, Li Weizhen was finally silenced. It was not until he approached the city gate that he found the topic again.
Lin Tailai was riding on his horse, looking at the majestic city wall.
Li Weizhen introduced next to him: "The layout of Kaifeng City inherited the Song and Jin Dynasties. The Zhou Palace in the city was built on the basis of the Forbidden City of the Song and Jin Dynasties, and its regulations are slightly higher than those of other princes."
Lin Tailai said impatiently: "No matter how majestic the city wall is, it's not worth being stuck here for a quarter of an hour, right?"
At this moment, the direction of the city gate was completely blocked, causing Lin Tailai to stop here and not be able to move forward.
Li Weizhen, who was responsible for welcoming Lin Tailai into the city, was a little embarrassed and said quickly: "I did instruct the gate troops to maintain smooth flow before, but I don't know what went wrong. I'll go to the city gate in front to take a look."
Lin Tailai told the Zuo protector Zhang Wen, "Follow and have a look."
Not long after, Zhang Wenxian rode back and reported: "It seems that several groups of dignitaries have gathered there and blocked the city gate for some reason. Li Da Shen went to persuade them."
Lin Tailai then ordered: "What advice are you trying to persuade? Call Li Shenzheng back!"
After a while, Zhang Wen came back with Li Weizhen.
Then I heard Li Weizhen explain: "On the other side of the city gate are the slaves of King Yanling, King Yingchuan, and King Pujiang. They fought against each other and refused to give in, so they blocked the city gate."
Lin Tailai said in surprise: "I heard that there are as many as fifty or sixty princes in Kaifeng City. You can actually recognize people from three of their families?"
It can be said that Kaifeng City has the highest density of princes in the Ming Dynasty. There is really only one prince who is the King of Zhou.
However, there are dozens of county kings in the Zhou king's lineage, with as many as sixty-nine at the peak. Even if some have no heirs and no titles, there are still fifty or sixty county kings now.
The titles of King Yanling, King Yingchuan, and King Pujiang mentioned by Li Weizhen just now sound very arrogant, but in fact they were just like that in the Ming Dynasty. There were dozens of such princes in Kaifeng City.
In addition, there are hundreds of generals and over a thousand lieutenants in the Zhou king's lineage.
Therefore, the Zhou king's lineage is the most prolific of all the clans in the Ming Dynasty. The current total number of people is about 6,000, and the salary is two million dan, all of which are distributed by the Henan government.
Of course, it is not impossible for civil servants to cope with it. They can just default on the clan salary. Anyway, the payment of clan salary is not included in the performance evaluation.
In many cases, if one-third of the rated amount can be actually paid every year, or if the arrears of previous years can be cleared a little, it will be regarded as a kind act by the civil servant.
Therefore, the issue of clan salaries in the late Ming Dynasty was a very complicated issue. From a book perspective, the financial burden on the government was very heavy, and the proportion of clan salaries was not low.
However, in actual practice, how much the government pays is a very metaphysical issue. Some clans that are more exaggerated may not have received any salary in ten years.
Another example is the famous Fu Wang vassaling. Emperor Wanli granted Fu Wang 2 million acres of land as a salary. However, when the wealthy Fu Wang became a vassal queen, he found that there were a lot of poor relatives around him who could not receive salaries and needed to use their own money for relief.
All in all, the status of the clan becomes lower as it reaches later stages.
Hearing that Lin Tailai was still thinking about teasing, Li Weizhen smiled bitterly and said: "The King of Yanling, the King of Yingchuan, and the King of Pujiang were all granted the title this year, so I still have an impression.
These three county princes are all young men of the same generation, so it is inevitable that the servants will be fierce and competitive outside, and they are unwilling to lose the face of the house."
Looking towards the city gate, Lin Tailai said calmly: "I have been struggling in the court for two years. If I am still blocked when entering Kaifeng City, wouldn't my struggle be in vain?"
The guardians Zhang Wen and Zhang Wu on the left and right said together: "I understand!" Then they turned around and began to greet the two hundred servants.
Li Weizhen was still confused. What did he understand? What did Lin Jiuyuan mean by that sentence?
"Jiu Yuanjun, calm down for a moment, I'll go and persuade them to leave." Li Weizhen felt that he had to do something, so he quickly added.
But Lin Tailai held Li Weizhen down and said, "You don't have to go, just wait for the results."
Just when Li Weizhen was about to ask, "What are we waiting for?", he saw Lin Tailai's two hundred servants suddenly skillfully forming several formations, and then they rushed towards the city gate like wolves and tigers!
For a moment, the sound of ghosts crying and wolves howling was heard from the city gate, and people kept running away, only to be beaten back by the vigilant servants wandering around the outside.
The servants of the three princes were suddenly attacked together and were completely stunned.
The large number of people who were watching the excitement from a distance were also dumbfounded. They didn't know what kind of fierce dragon was crossing the river, and they surrounded and beat the three princes together.
After a while, more than a hundred wounded people were lying at the city gate. They were lifted up and thrown to the roadside. The passage into the city was finally cleared.
To be continued...