"Be worried when the world is worried first, then be happy when the world is happy." [Yueyang Tower]
"The people have been longing for peace for a long time, and they are looking forward to the officials as much as they are looking for clouds. Our Han Dynasty has a vast territory, with hundreds of prefectures and counties, thousands of counties and cities, and countless people who live in the countryside. These are all talented people like Laier, who are doing the best for the court and the people.
May there be peace for all time." The emperor's eyes wandered among the crowd, and he quickly found a few familiar figures. He first said an opening speech to encourage those who came forward.
Most of the imperial students below heard the emperor's voice for the first time, and they all listened with their ears pricked up. Fortunately, the emperor was full of energy and his words were fluent, and even the imperial students kneeling in the last row could hear it.
Clearly. After the emperor finished speaking, they were all excited and shouted in unison in the palace.
But You Chu was stunned for a moment when he bowed down. The emperor's voice seemed familiar to him, as if he had heard it somewhere a long time ago, but he couldn't remember it. He forced himself to raise his head and glance at Yu Rong.
With this idea in mind, I lowered my head and sang together with the excited classmates around me.
"I think of my great ancestor, Emperor Gao, who led the garrison and killed the snakes in the uprising, in order to relieve the suffering of the people. Under his filial piety, the filial piety and kingship of the ancestors, they were light on corvee and paid little in taxes, and taught the people with benevolence and virtue. Our Han Dynasty has been in the world for four hundred years. Now we have four hundred years of rule.
The chaos and chaos are over, and the Han Dynasty has been rejuvenated. God will never tire of it, and the people will not abandon it. For the country, for the people, these are the foundation of our Han family's governance. These four words must be kept in mind. If there is any mistake, I will be shameless.
My ancestors, you are not our Han family’s subjects!"
The emperor changed the topic and put forward the governing program of "serving the country and the people". This is not only a responsibility assigned to all ministers, but also a responsibility imposed on the emperor. This example is exactly connected with the previous Pingqiang inscription, the emperor governs politics
Putting the people first, the so-called "what goes up and what follows" guides the direction for those ministers who are determined to do things.
The emperor's words were not only spoken to the imperial students in the palace, but also reached the ears of Zhao Wen, Chen Ji and others who were sitting with him. They immediately left the table and led the imperial students in a solemn manner: "
I sincerely promise you."
The questions of the palace examination were far more confidential than those of the policy examination, because they were not preserved in written form. Instead, they had already been thought of by the emperor and kept in his mind, and he only had to blurt it out at the time: "Meng Ke once said: 'Happy for the people.
If you are happy, the people will also be happy; if you are concerned about the people's worries, the people will also be worried about them."
In the silent palace, it was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Only the emperor spoke word by word with his clear and loud voice. Everyone held their breath and listened: "In today's world, what is the happiness of the people and what is the worry of the people?"
After the emperor finished talking about the topic he had decided on, he remained silent. Zhao Wen looked at the imperial students who seemed to be in trance at the same time and had not yet made any move. He coughed softly and said, "Let's start writing."
Everyone reacted one after another. First they picked up a pen and quickly wrote down the topic the emperor said on the white paper in front of them. Then they put the pen down in unison and closed their eyes in meditation.
The words of Mencius quoted by the emperor mean that officials should do things that the people like to hear and see, and worry about things that the people worry about. But his question is an explanatory question. The emperor is very practical. In summary, the content
Vacant answers may not please him. On the contrary, those answers that start from a small starting point, point to point, and fully observe the most intense contradictions in society today are what the emperor really wants.
This exam was more difficult than ever for Su Ze. Not only was the question confusing for him, he didn't know whether to start from a small point or discuss it from a big point of view; but also because he was under the sight of the emperor and a group of important ministers.
Now, the pressure on my shoulders is hundreds of times heavier than before.
Although for the imperial students like them who passed the examination, no matter what their results in this palace examination, they started out as county officials at least. But among the imperial students who can enter the front palace, who doesn't want to rely on their writing to become a successful official in the imperial examination?
A blockbuster in front of the king and his ministers?
Therefore, after a quarter of an hour, one after another someone came up with a pen to break the topic.
As far as Su Ze knew, the emperor had two and a half teachers. One was the current imperial censor Zhongcheng Huandian, who studied "Shangshu", the other was the late former imperial servant Zhao Qi, who studied "Mencius", and the other half
It was Wang Yun, the former Situ who had read the "Book of Filial Piety" for some time to the emperor.
From this point of view, Su Ze believes that the emperor's political thinking is generally inseparable from the books he learned in his childhood, and the emperor's quotation from "Mencius" in the topic also proves this point.
Following this line of thinking, Su Ze gradually knew where to start. Not only should he relate the problems he encountered in reality and explain the people's worries and joys, but he should also quote the concept of sage kings and wise kings in governing the country in "Shang Shu" and propose how to govern the country.
Only by doing can you turn people's worries into people's happiness. Writing in this way is the beginning and end of the poem.
The palace examination lasted a long time, and the emperor couldn't just wait and watch, so he naturally wouldn't sit there. The so-called invigilation was just a symbolic expression of attention. The emperor had many things to do, and it was impossible to waste the entire morning on invigilating the examination.
The driver of the bus, Ma Ling Ronghe, held a tray in his hand, which contained about a dozen secret seals that only the emperor could seal. He stood outside the palace door. As a casualty of the palace examination, he could not enter at will, but Mu Shun obeyed.
On one side, he walked around several beams and took it from the other party.
So the emperor personally opened the seals, and these seals were in duplicate. Before the emperor opened them and read them, even the prime minister had no right to read them. In principle, all the subjects in the world had the right to grant seals to the emperor, but only
Only the most important matters are eligible to be included in the seal, otherwise you will be punished.
Some of these seals coming from all directions related to the civil affairs of Jizhou. For example, Wang Yishangshu said that Julu Governor Zhang, who was responsible for the important task of water control, led Li Shu to take advantage of the leisure time to repair and drain the waterways to straighten the waterways. Whether the success will depend on next year's spring rain.
However, Director Zhang did not take any measures against the local tyrants who had invaded the land, but only issued an official document stating that he would not blame others in the future.
Wang Yi questioned Director Zhang's position and was worried that subsequent policies would be hindered in Julu, so he suggested that the emperor replace Director Zhang. Judging from Wang Yi's memorial, Director Zhang did have the ability to control floods. Nowadays, rivers in various places are in disrepair.
Kong Rong, the water envoy of the capital city, was not a good person in this field. It might be a way to get the best of both worlds by letting Director Zhang change his position to focus on water conservancy and not pay attention to civil affairs.
The emperor made a few sketches on Wang Yi's seals, put them aside, and then took apart the other seals one by one. Zhang Liao, the general of Zhenbei, objected to the request of Karasuma, the three counties, to open a market for mutual trade.
In the seal, he also mentioned that when Yuan Shao wreaked havoc in Hebei, he expropriated wealthy families, which caused many powerful men in Jizhou and Youzhou to flee to Xianbei. These people brought production tools and technology to the grassland, taught the Xianbei people to make swords, arrows, armors, and learn
The writing system of the Central Plains.
Zhang Liao had a brilliant vision and believed that if not stopped, the Xianbei people, who have mastered advanced technology and military systems, would rise and become a major scourge in the north. This seal matter attracted the emperor's attention, and he immediately issued instructions on the matter: "Accept
The princes of the Ming Dynasty read it quickly and proposed a strategy for advancement."
The next seal was Jiaozhou Keping. When Shi Xie and other local powerful people were conquered and brought into the imperial court, the people of Jiaozhou were reluctant to part with them. Anyuan general Ju Jun and Liwu Zhonglang general Wu Kuang saw that the Shi family was powerful in Jiaozhou.
A memorial that won the hearts of the people. At this time, Jiaozhou and Rinan County and Xianglin County were separated by the district and had not been recovered. Wu Kuang insisted on sending troops to attack despite the remoteness of Linyi. On this point, he did not reach an agreement with Jujun, so
Everything was written in the seal and asked for the emperor's decision.
The emperor calmly finished reading the seal, and after asking Mu Shun, he realized that only half of the time had passed. He did not want to sit for a long time, so he quietly stood up from the table. While the imperial students were concentrating on writing,
After saying hello to Zhao Wen and others, he went to the back of the palace to rest.
Mu Shun had already arranged a soft couch, tea and snacks at the back of the palace. He helped the emperor sit down on the couch, then offered a bowl of hot tea with both hands. He said with a smile: "Seeing that there are so many talented people in the palace, the servants also
Happy for the country."
"Governing the country is not easy." The emperor held the tea bowl in his hand, but he was not in a hurry to drink. He stared blankly at a certain place and said softly: "I heard that after the Imperial College Examination, many Imperial College students were greatly disappointed.
Quite complaining?"
"Only." Mu Shun fiddled with the charcoal fire with an iron drill, took out a small piece of sandalwood from the small silver plate on the side and threw it into the charcoal basin. When it burned, a wisp of light smoke and a strong fragrance came out: "The village gangsters
Most of them do not know how to educate and are stupid and stubborn. Those who have passed the "middle grade" exam and want to go to counties are not bad. Those who want to be a low-ranking official in the countryside, a stingy husband, or a low-ranking official are either afraid of difficulties and remoteness.
Either he was unwilling to study at Taixue for five or six years, and in the end he was even inferior to those who were filial, honest, and talented."
"Xiaolian and Maocai will have to start from the bottom in the future." The emperor said calmly. He did not take these objections seriously.
Most of the children of powerful families have some educational background. Especially after the establishment of the Imperial College, many families with more than 2,000 dan can send their sons to school, and families of powerful noble families can also pay high prices to enter the school. This has led to poverty within the Imperial College.
The proportion of rich people is gradually increasing, and more and more ordinary farmers and children from humble families have become the mainstream among Tai students.
It's just that the educational foundation of students from poor families is not as good as that of children from rich families. Therefore, most of the Tai students with "lower grades" are from humble backgrounds. And the wealthy students with "lower grades" are not only small in number, but also mostly
The low-ranking people, the true aristocratic children, and the elite scholars all went to the Imperial College or the ranks of the Imperial College Examination.
So this is also the reason why the emperor does not worry about this slight criticism: "They are used to living a good life, and are used to hearing stories about people who are recommended and directly obey orders. Naturally, they can't stand such a result. These people are in the minority after all, and they don't need to
Take care of them, since the imperial court's appointment has been issued, unless there is a funeral in the family, anyone who dares to disobey the order and pretend to be arrogant will be severely punished!"
Mu Shunzheng closed the lid of the incense burner. After hearing this, he knelt down and said: "Wei Wei! I will send your Majesty's oral instructions to Chengming Palace and Zhongtai, instructing them to handle this matter. This is the first priority of the imperial court."
We must not lose our reputation because of these young people..."
"It's up to you to say this." Mu Shun's words and deeds now constituted interference in the government's affairs, but the emperor did not feel dissatisfied and immediately approved Mu Shun's tentative words: "The ministers are too conservative, so they must understand what I mean.
"
"Slave, please!" Mu Shun was so happy that he almost exhaled. Fortunately, he knew that the imperial student who was taking the imperial examination was next to him, so he finally managed to endure his excitement.
It has been seven years. Mu Shun has been waiting for this day for seven years. He has always longed for the power of Zhongchangshi. Now he has finally taken this step. He only hopes that the emperor can give him more opportunities in the future.
to perform.
"After they finish the exam, go to the Chengming Palace and take those seals over." The emperor ordered. Seeing the unconcealed joy in Mu Shun's eyes, he raised his hand and took a sip of the warm tea, his eyes slightly deepened.
, I don’t know what I’m thinking: “Go and call Liu Bei.”
Mu Shun walked briskly.
Not long after, the attendant, Liu Bei, the Tinghou of Yicheng, came to the emperor from the front hall.
"Your Excellency, I am ready to pay homage to Your Majesty."
Liu Bei was of medium build, with thick lips and a beard. After saluting, he sat upright on the mat, with his two long arms folded between his lower abdomen, and a pair of majestic phoenix eyes slightly lowered, like a solemn statue.
"Speaking of which, this is the first time that you and I, the monarch and our ministers, have issued an imperial edict alone." The emperor looked at the other person up and down and said calmly.
When the emperor mentioned the word "alone", Mu Shun cleverly asked the few people in the palace to retreat, while he stood in a hidden place and listened with bated breath.
"Your Majesty does not treat his ministers as humble and dismisses them from their duties. Now that the edict is against him, I am extremely frightened." Liu Bei was indeed frightened when he said it. He was no better than Cao Cao. Not only did he not have outstanding military exploits, he also suffered many defeats when resisting Yuan Shu in Xuzhou.
Although he gained some merit in the defeat, it was nothing compared to Cao Cao.
I thought that no matter how hard he tried, he would not be able to retain the military and political power in Xuzhou, and after surrendering to the imperial court, he would only be able to live in a sinecure for the rest of his life. Unexpectedly, the emperor directly ordered him to be a minister.
The servant is a close confidant of the emperor. He can observe the government affairs from a close distance and serves as a standing adviser. The other five servants with him are all existences that are beyond his reach. Yang Qi and Xun You, who are from a wealthy family and are ordinary scholars, are
Needless to say, Cui Lie and Zhong Yao are famous people in the country, and the newly promoted minister Deng Chang is also from the Deng family of Nanyang, and he also bears the title of Marquis of Wuyin.
In terms of seniority, no one could compare with Liu Bei. All day long he could only take care of personal items such as court clothes and sacrificial utensils for the emperor. He worked hard and did his real job as a servant without complaint.
"It's good not to be arrogant." The emperor actually considered positioning Liu Bei. Unlike Cao Cao, Cao Cao had sufficient military capabilities and sufficient political courage. These are the traits the emperor needs in the future.
Liu Bei's ability cannot be said to be too great, and his talent cannot be said to be too small. However, in the eyes of the emperor, his various qualities are not irreplaceable among the many ministers inside and outside the court.
So this is why the emperor only gave him a high position in the service but did not use him seriously.