It is always a grand event when the emperor invites Jinshi to the Fengtian Palace in the year of great competition. Although most of the Jinshi dare not really raise their heads to peek at the face of heaven, it is an opportunity to meet the emperor after all, and it is also the beginning of their glorious life.
Early that morning, hundreds of Jinshi gathered in a dark crowd outside Fengtian Gate. They were all extremely excited, and no one could care about those of the same age around them. Therefore, Xu Zhenqing, who had his right hand lowered, naturally did not attract any attention at all.
After entering the Fengtian Hall to meet the emperor, Emperor Hongzhi took his seat after announcing the examination questions, and all the candidates sat down one after another. Xu Zhenqing waited for the answer sheets and draft papers to be handed out, and then took out the plywood he had prepared in the examination basket.
, clamped the right hand with the skillful movements that he had practiced frequently in the past few days.
So far, only a few people including Emperor Hongzhi, Prince Zhu Houzhao, Xiao Jing, Sun Hong, etc. know his name, and all the big bosses are at a loss. At this time, an official supervising the examination next to him saw his situation and couldn't help but stepped forward and scolded him.
Said: "What's wrong with your hand?"
"Replying to your lord, I accidentally broke my hand before."
As soon as these words came out, the official was stunned, and immediately said with a serious face: "How do you behave like this for the Imperial Palace Examination? Why didn't you apply for it before?"
"Sir, there are no rules in the palace examination that say those with broken hands cannot take the examination. Besides, it was not inappropriate for Wan Sheng to meet the Holy Master before. Now the plywood is only for writing articles. Please make it convenient for me."
There were people in this palace examination who returned home because of an unexpected encounter with Ding You, but it was almost unheard of to take part in the palace examination with a broken hand. For a moment, the official hesitated. Thinking of Xu Zhenqing's sincere attitude, it was really unlucky to encounter such a thing.
Although he frowned deeply, he nodded calmly after all. After Xu Zhenqing was busy writing, he quietly returned to the ranks of several prison officials and whispered what had just happened. Most of them sighed.
, only a few science officials exchanged glances with each other.
It is very different that the two examiners presided over the same examination. The lineup of examiners for the palace examination has always been extremely luxurious. The three elders of the cabinet, Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, Xie Qian, all six ministers, from Ma Wen to Han Wen, Liu Daxia, were all present, plus the censor of Zuodu.
Dai Shan, Imperial Envoy to the Right Capital, Shi Lin, etc., almost captured all the famous officials of Hongzhi in one fell swoop. Although this does not guarantee that the results of the palace examination will be fair and impartial, at least the papers that can be rewarded by this series of ministers and submitted to the imperial examination are not much different.
.
However, as soon as the Heavenly Palace Examination ended and the paper reading began, several impeachments were suddenly sent to the center, and in a moment they arrived on the desk of the Supervisor of Ceremonies. Xiao Jing, the eunuch in charge of the Supervisor of Ceremonies, meant that it was most important to read the papers in the Palace Examination.
At this moment, it was important not to disturb the bosses, but Li Rong insisted that the matter was of great importance and must be reported. The two couldn't argue, so Li Rong took these bullets in his sleeves and took Wang Yue, who was in charge of the East Factory, and went straight to the imperial palace.
After reporting the excerpts of the bullets to Emperor Hongzhi one by one, Li Rong raised his head and said: "Your Majesty, the palace examination is a national selection ceremony, and the most important thing to select talents is to acquire virtue. As a tribute, Xu Zhenqing was in conflict with others in the street.
, so much so that he broke his hand, but deliberately cheated and refused to report it during the palace examination. He got on the plywood to participate in the palace examination, which was very unbecoming.
In addition, this person has a close relationship with Tang Yin, who was deposed by the county and retired as a minor official in the twelfth year of Hongzhi. It is obvious that his character is poor..."
Li Rong talked eloquently about a lot of Pazhi. The emperor frowned for a moment, but what he thought of was when he asked Zhu Houzhao before why he came up with such an idea for the Qianqiu Festival and where those few Yuefu songs came from, Zhu Houzhao said
A proud answer.
"Father, it was Xu Xun's idea to give my son as a gift to my mother. I just thought of it and used it. But the idea of wishing my father a long life was my own idea.
Originally, the most important thing for the mother was that her son and his father were not right. She didn't care about the other external things between his father and his son! As for the Yuefu, it was Xu Xun who asked someone to write the name "Gusu Xu Zhenqing". By the way, the son
The minister was afraid that the poet would be immoral and desecrate his mother's Qianqiu Festival, so he asked Gu Dayong to lead people to investigate the eight generations of his ancestors. Gu Dayong said to his minister, Xu Zhenqing studied literature in his early years.
Wu Kuan learned calligraphy from Li Yingzhen..."
Therefore, although Li Rong asked Wang Yue to report the results of the Dongchang investigation one by one, Emperor Hongzhi listened and chewed on it. He found that compared with what he had heard from Zhu Houzhao before, it was completely different. He couldn't help but gradually
His face darkened, and at the end he suddenly said coldly: "Wang Yue, Dongchang has nothing to do, and you actually went to inquire about a mere tribute?"
Wang Yue and Li Rong had always been on good terms, so Li Rong often overstepped his authority and sent Dongchang's subordinates to do things, and Wang Yue acquiesced. At this time, the emperor suddenly opened his mouth to accuse him, and he couldn't help being surprised, and immediately he knelt down in fear.
He went down, and after a while he said slowly: "Your Majesty, I just heard that Xu Zhenqing was taking the plywood test for a while, so I am afraid that this person is having an affair with my sister outside, causing damage to his limbs, and his character is different..."
"How brave!"
Although Li Rongping always relied on the divine grace, he saw the emperor getting angry at this moment. He couldn't help but feel fear in his heart, and he didn't dare to really blame Wang Yue. He knelt down and said: "Your Majesty, please calm down, we are all slaves."
Seeing that there were more and more impeachments, I took it upon myself to ask Wang Yue’s people to investigate..."
"What a self-assertion! It would be fine if you really investigated and got to the bottom of it. There are so many untrue statements and confusion between right and wrong!" Emperor Hongzhi, who rarely showed off his anger towards these close concubines, threw out those copies.
After the memorial, he angrily promised Sun Hong to the Qianqing Palace on the side and said, "Sun Hong, you go to Beizhen Fusi in person to convey my instructions to Ye Guang, and ask him to report all the details of the origins of the tribute scholar Xu Zhenqing before he can be heard in the Golden Palace. Please hurry up."
"…
Seeing Sun Hongxu leaving in a moment, Li Rong on the ground felt trembling in his heart. He didn't know where the emperor's thunder came from. However, Emperor Hongzhi had no intention of explaining, and then said calmly: "If Ye Guangcha is
It's just about the same as Dongchang, otherwise, Dongchang should also deal with it! The scandal of the twelfth year of Hongzhi has been going on for so many years, and they still bring it out, and this kind of method of stirring up trouble is thought to be able to
Can you fool me?"
"This slave deserves to die!"
Faced with these rare harsh words, both Li Rong and Wang Yue kowtowed without their hats, not daring to say a word of defense. Although the two of them were able to escape from the Qianqing Palace in the end, there were still many Qianqing Palace people present who agreed.
The news that these two top blockers were blamed was revealed in a moment. When the news reached the ears of Xiao Jing, the chief of etiquette, he remembered that Xu Xun had asked Ruisheng to deliver the news in advance, although he just smiled.
Although he didn't say anything, he felt happy in his heart. When the news reached Chengqian Palace, Liu Jin, Gu Dayong and others were overjoyed. Gu Dayong even took Liu Jin and the two brothers for a drink.
"Now, let's see how Wang Yue can be more ruthless. Xu Xun is still the kid with more evil ideas. If this continues, the day when the West Factory will reopen will not be far away. By then, Lao Liu, we don't have to look at Lao Wang Yue anymore.
So embarrassed!"
"Okay, I'll just wait for that day!" Liu Jin said this, but couldn't help but murmur in his heart. He was just an insignificant tribute, but he caused such a commotion. The prince sent Gu Dayong to find out.
He was the one who told Xu Bi the details about Xu Zhenqing, but when Xu Xun told him to tell Gu Dayong to find out the information in detail and not ignore all the advantages and disadvantages, he still felt unconvinced. Now it seems that this prince is really
Became a sperm!
When Jiao Fang learned that Li Rong and Wang Yue in the palace had been reprimanded by the emperor, it was already near the end of the palace exam. Unexpectedly, things suddenly changed like this. He felt caught off guard for a moment, but no matter how he thought,
He didn't even know why the situation took such a turn for the worse.
However, what happened next made him even more shocked and angry.
Those officials of the Ministry of Science and Technology were actually punished for their unsubstantiated actions and grandstanding, and some were punished for ranging from three months to half a year, and some were demoted to foreign officials!
Because of this incident, Li Rong temporarily took ill and was recuperating in his residence! Most of Jiao Fang's eyes and ears in the palace relied on the very senior Chief of Ceremonies Bingbi, and two of those officials were also his.
Both of his confidants were demoted as foreign officials, and now he lost both his wife and his army!
So, on the day when the Golden Palace was announced, although he stood in high spirits in the main hall, when he heard the roll calls one by one, he still felt angry and angry in his heart. When a familiar name suddenly came to his ears.
At that moment, he just felt his whole body suddenly shaken. If it weren't for the fact that he had become immovable due to years of experience in court rituals, he almost wanted to turn his head and take a closer look at the unknown scholar who had humiliated his father and son and caused him heavy losses.
As the real instigator, Xu Xun did not only send a golden six as he had done before when the imperial examination results were released on this day. He gave the avant-garde of the imperial army half a day off and invited Wang Shouren to go with him to see the results.
When we arrived at the end of the field, there was a dense crowd, but most of them were spectators and relatives and friends. However, the real new scholars had to go to Fengtian Hall to hear the rankings in person. It is not surprising that they fainted on the spot because of their poor mental quality.
He was naturally in a good mood after already knowing the series of changes in the palace. Now waiting for the results to be released, he joked to Wang Shouren: "Brother Wang, you have participated in the Golden Palace Biography. That's when you heard your name."
How did you feel at that time?,,"Me?" Thinking back to the roll call in the palace audition, Wang Shouren couldn't help but squinted his eyes in confusion, and then sighed softly, "Of course I was happy at that time. I was able to win the second grade."
Sixth is worthy of what I have learned over the years. Compared to my father's number one pick, my ranking is really not worth mentioning." Sixth in the morning was seventh in the country. Isn't this worth mentioning?
Xu Xun was lamenting that Wang Shouren was indeed a man who aspired to become a saint, and was not comparable to ordinary people like him, when a shout came from the other side: "The list has been published, the list has been published!".