Chapter 1639: Relatives (asking for double monthly votes)
Thinking of "official documents", Fusong glanced at Zhang Tinglu.
Zhang Tinglu is going to take the Shuntian Prefecture Township Examination. This is the first time this year that the papers have been divided, so the difficulty has suddenly increased.
There are hundreds of officials' children who are registered in the capital to take exams. Before the examination papers were divided, they had to take the exam together with the local scholars from Zhili. Every time, 30 to 40% of the candidates on the list were such children. It was much easier than starting a career in the local area.
After the papers were divided, there was internal competition among the officials’ children.
The quota for each subject in the provincial examination of Shuntian Prefecture is 80. According to the admission ratio of nine civilians to one official, only eight officials' children can be admitted. However, in recent years, there have been hundreds of officials' children registered in the capital, so the difficulty has increased several times.
When you wait for the exam, it will also be divided into papers.
At that time, there were nineteen civil servants and one official. There were only a dozen places for each subject.
The history of officials' children trying to take advantage of the Shuntianfu Provincial Examination to easily pass the Guipang exam ended here.
Zhang Ying asked again about Brother Jiu's resignation as head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Fusong said: "Jiuye went to Wutai Mountain with his retinue after the year. When he came back, he left his errands in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and went to the Ministry of Household Affairs."
Zhang Ying was in his sixties and had grown a beard long ago. After listening to Fusong's words, he stroked his beard and said, "Your Majesty knows people well and is good at responsibilities. Master Jiu has economic talent."
It's just that he was working as an errand in the previous dynasty, so he would probably be knighted soon.
Because this place is far away from the capital, and the latest Di newspaper has not arrived yet, neither Zhang Ying nor the Fusong brothers know the news about Ninth Prince Feng Beile.
Zhang Ying wanted to ask about the news from the court, but thinking about Fusong's identity as a member of the prince's palace, not a court official, he changed his mind and said, "Has the court reached a conclusion about Cheng Zi's sacrifice to the fields?"
It turns out that Cheng Yan, the descendant of Cheng Zi and a doctor of the Five Classics, has offered sacrifices to Cheng Zi every year for the past few years.
Since the Song Dynasty, Neo-Confucianism has emerged, and scholars respect Cheng Zi.
Fusong was also a scholar, so he knew about the matter, and said: "The Ministry of Rites did not respond. Later, I handed the document to the emperor, and the emperor was not sure. He only asked the Ministry of Rites to urge the governor to handle the matter as appropriate, so that the descendants of the Cheng family can worship it for generations to come, and it is indispensable."
Zhang Ying nodded after listening.
This was also the trend of the imperial court. It did not object to scholars respecting Cheng Zi, but it had no intention of improving Cheng Zi's status.
We must know that among the great sages of the Song Dynasty, in addition to Cheng Zi, there is also Zhu Zi, a sect of Confucius and Mencius, who brought together the great masters of Confucianism.
If two semi-saints are really promoted, the impact will be huge in the future.
Even if the children's emphasis on study and homework has to be changed.
The Fusong brothers came from afar and looked gloomy.
Zhang Ying talked to them for a quarter of an hour and then asked Zhang Tinglu to take them to the guest room to freshen up.
When the future son-in-law comes to visit, as well as the children from the in-laws' families, he should be received with dignity.
It is now sunset, so we can only have a family dinner tonight, and will arrange the official reception banquet for tomorrow.
The Fusong brothers followed Zhang Tinglu out.
Mrs. Yao then ordered the girl next to her, "Send a message to the kitchen. In addition to adding vegetables, we will add two more pasta dishes tonight."
In Tongcheng diet, the staple food is rice.
The Zhang family has lived in the capital for more than 30 years, so their tastes are relatively complex, and they also have flour in the kitchen.
The banquet has been prepared long ago, half of it is Tongcheng specialties, and half of it is Beijing cuisine. This is because I am afraid that the brothers will not be used to it.
The brothers went to the guest room, and except for the young boy who followed them, the other senior attendants and guards who came with them were all placed in the outer courtyard.
When Zhang Tinglu went out and only a few brothers were left, Zhu Liang asked Fu Song: "Is this the prime minister's residence? It's bigger than the courtyard in Beijing. I thought the courtyards in Jiangnan were smaller..."
Zhuliang has never been to gardens in Jiangnan, but she has heard of them. She knows that some gardens are very small, and some cover an area of half an acre.
The courtyards in the capital are wide and spacious, and the gardens of half an acre are smaller than ordinary people's gardens.
Fu Ming said: "Except for the Wu family next to 'Liuchixiang', the Zhang family's houses are all in front and behind. This is what the book says about living together as a clan, right?"
Fusong said: "It has been three hundred years since the Zhang family moved to Tongcheng. By the time it was passed down to Prime Minister Zhang, it was already the ninth generation. There were thirty or forty uncles and brothers of Zhang Tongzong's great-grandfather alone. By the time the descendants of the Ting generation were eighty or ninety
people."
Zhang Ying also gave birth to seven sons, but the fifth son died young, leaving only six children.
The Zhang family has many descendants, and the whole family is on the rise.
Zhu Liang said: "But Zhang Xiang's tribe has never heard of any high-ranking officials."
No matter how many clan members there are, they are still dependent on Zhang Ying and cannot provide any help.
Fu Song was often close to Zhang Tingzhan and knew more about it. He said: "To say that the Zhang family's fortune can be traced back to the previous dynasty. Around the time of the fifth generation of ancestors, the Zhang family had a Jinshi and changed their family status. Zhang Xiang's great-grandfather
, uncles were both high-ranking officials of the third rank, but they were officials in the previous dynasty, so it’s hard to mention. There was an uncle who was a high-ranking official in this dynasty, serving as Minister of the Ministry of War.
What kind of force should I use?"
Zhu Liang admired him and said: "This is a scholarly family with a lot of officials."
It's like the Lord's family, which has always been prosperous.
Fu Ming also said: "It's not that the father-in-law of the second master of the Zhang family also sat in the capital. The little Tongcheng is really a place of outstanding people, with so many high-ranking officials."
Fusong said: "You will know after you try it once. There is experience in this industry, and the skills are passed down from generation to generation. The students have their own rules for learning, which is different from studying hard. Whether it is the Shuntianfu Township Examination
, it is still the Jiangnan Provincial Examination, and those who are on the list are mainly the children of officials and gentry. There are very few children from humble families. In the future, the candidates of the Zhang family will be indispensable for Jinshi."
Zhu Liang said: "Jiangnan is wealthy, has many gentry, and is well-educated."
Fu Ming exclaimed: "When I was in the capital, I heard that Jiangnan was wealthy and had many scholars. It's really different. No wonder, given the opportunity, all the children of the capital officials had to register to take the exam."
Zhang Tinglu's uncle and nephew are all from Shuntian Prefecture.
I don’t know what will happen next.
Before there were separate papers, Shuntianfu Rural Examination was better than Jiangnan Rural Examination.
Let’s not talk about others, let’s talk about Zhang Ying’s third son-in-law, who was also a young scholar. He took the provincial examination four or five times and failed.
But it also has something to do with the province where Tongcheng is located. Tongcheng is located in the south of the Yangtze River, and the children have to take the Jiangnan Township Examination.
For the Jiangnan Provincial Examination, the quota is said to be larger than that of Shuntian Prefecture, with 135 people. However, these are the quotas for the two provinces, with Jiangsu accounting for 70% and Anhui accounting for 30%.
Tongcheng belongs to Anqing Prefecture, Anhui Province.
After the papers were divided, the number of children of officials in the capital who took the exam was several times that of the children of officials in the Jiangnan rural examination. However, the number of admissions was less than that of the Jiangnan rural examination, so the difficulty suddenly increased.
Younger children of the Zhang family can choose again and take the exam in their place of origin.
However, Zhang Tinglu and Zhang Ruolin's uncle and nephew had already registered in Shuntian Prefecture, so they could only take the exam in Shuntian Prefecture.
This uncle and nephew's road to the examination should not be as smooth as that of Zhang Tingzhan and Zhang Tingyu brothers.
It was getting late, so after simply freshening up and changing clothes, the three brothers went to Zhang's house to have sex again.
One of the three of them is the future uncle, and the other two are juniors of the in-laws. Not counting foreigners, they are the whole Zhang family.
In addition to Zhang Ying and his wife, the Zhang family currently living in Tongcheng also includes the third son Zhang Tinglu and his wife, the fourth son Ting and his wife, the sixth son Tingguan and his wife, the seventh son Tingyu, the fourth girl Zhang and the third sister's wife who now lives in her natal family.
Of the grandchildren of the Zhang family, only the eldest grandson Zhang Ruolin is married. There are about ten others, including two grandchildren and two granddaughters.
There were more than twenty people in total, and the main room was packed.
The children and grandchildren here, except for a few young ones, all accompanied Zhang Ying.
The female relatives were all surrounding Mrs. Yao.
When the three brothers left the capital, Mrs. Jueluo repeatedly told them that Han people's rules were different from those in Manchuria, and they should be more polite in front of their female relatives.
At present, the three Fusongs are very well-behaved and do not look towards the female relatives.
On the other hand, the female family members know that among the three young men, the oldest and best-looking is the fourth uncle.
The sisters-in-law looked at the fourth girl and smiled.
The fourth girl held the handkerchief and her face turned red.
After the Dragon Boat Festival, she would leave home and follow her third brother to Beijing to get married. She never expected that Fu Song would come to Jiangnan at this time.
Third Sister Zhang stood next to her younger sister. She was in her thirties and had a somewhat old appearance due to hard work in life. She and her younger sister looked like two generations apart.
Her eldest daughter is already in her prime years.
Looking at the young men in front of her, she also thought of her daughter's marriage.
It would be best if she could marry back to her parents' family, but it's a pity that she doesn't have the right age.
Either he's several years older, or he's a little younger.
When the time comes, I can only find a suitable candidate among my cousins.
As for other relatives, Sanjie Zhang has no intention of seeing each other.
She has suffered enough and doesn't want her daughter to make the same mistake again.
The Zhang family is about to prosper, and the room in her natal family is also called the "prime minister's room" by the clan members.
She has eight or ninety cousins in total, and she can always find suitable candidates to be her in-laws.
At that time, if a daughter is slighted, her father and brothers will be able to support her, without having to worry about being a bully or meddling in the family affairs of her in-laws.
Fusong recognized a circle of people, including his brother-in-law and brother-in-law.
Among them, Fourth Master Zhang stands out.
Looking very thin, a man in his twenties, he was no better than Fu Ming who was drawing a strip, and his expression was a bit gloomy.
Fusong remembered Zhang Tingzhan's words that this Fourth Master Zhang was not in good health and had no business.
Logically speaking, such children from a scholarly family are mostly responsible for supporting their parents, cooking and the like. However, Fourth Master Zhang is in weak health. Not only is he unable to take the exam, he is also unable to shoulder the family's chores and become the rich man of the Zhang family.
Idle people.
Zhang Ying and his wife are still there and the family has not been separated. When Zhang Ying and his wife pass away and the family is separated for the next generation, the Zhang family's fourth bedroom will have a difficult time.
Now it is Zhang Sanye and his wife who take care of the housework in their hometown.
Fusong also paid attention to Mr. Zhang Liu, the concubine of the Zhang family. One of them died in infancy, and the other was him. However, they were also brought up by Mrs. Yao. They did not have the atrophied air of the concubine, and looked more cheerful and lively.
After everyone was identified, the Fusong brothers followed Zhang Ying and his son to the front room to prepare for the banquet.
The women and children stayed in the main house.
When they arrived at the front, watching their father and brother talking to Fu Song and Zhu Liang, Zhang Liuye came over to greet Fu Ming to talk.
Mr. Zhang Liu asked: "Does the temple fair at Longfu Temple still happen every year? There is a stall called Wang Si Nian Tea. I don't know if it is still available. Their noodle tea comes with two layers of sesame sauce, and it's still not mushy."
He was born in Beijing and grew up in Beijing. He returned to his hometown to study when he was ten years old. He mentions Beijing with nostalgia.
By the way, he was also one of the unlucky ones who had to go to Beijing to take the provincial examination.
Fu Ming nodded and said: "Fortunately, Wang Si Mian Tea Stall also comes out every year, but the people have changed. The sesame sauce is not as good as before. It is still two layers, but the total is not much more than one layer of others."
Mr. Zhang Liu said with regret, "That's a pity. I'm still thinking about going to the capital when I can. I must go there to eat there twice."
I have a sister who likes to think about food. Dutong Prefecture has noodle tea recipes, and there are several kinds, including those with millet noodles and millet noodles, and those with single millet noodles, those with millet noodles mixed with rice noodles, and those with millet noodles.
Mixed with millet noodles.
Fu Ming said: "The recipe for noodle tea is simple. If you want to eat it, just ask someone to make it. The key to deliciousness is the good sesame sauce and the sesame oil."
A gentleman is far away from the kitchen.
From a family like the Zhang family, the children have been deaf to outside world since they were young, and they only read the books of sages in order to prepare for their careers.
"Huh?"
Mr. Zhang Liu asked curiously: "Do you know how to make noodle tea? Didn't you say that it is made of millet noodles? It is difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice. There is no millet in the south of the Yangtze River..."