Chapter 695 0690 [Five Stars in a Row]

April.

The weather this spring is good. Although it cannot be said to be good weather, there is no large-scale spring drought.

After the recovery in the first and second years of Hongwu, the city of Dongjing has become more and more lively.

The life of the people in the suburbs is far better than that of the former Song Dynasty.

The slums on both sides of the canal have disappeared. When the Jin soldiers went south, most of them fled and were resettled as refugees by the Ming Dynasty. All of them were allocated land in the capital area (purchased on credit at low prices and interest-free installments). There are also a few poor people who are unwilling to buy land on credit and are settled in ownerless houses outside the city, serving as cheap labor for the operation of Dongjing City.

At dusk, most of the farmers in the suburbs went home. Eating before dark can save money for lamp oil.

There are also some extremely hardworking farmers who have eaten in the afternoon and continue to work in the fields before the sun sets.

Wu Song leaned against a tree with an empty rice bowl, listening to the villagers gathered to brag and chat.

His wife held her son who was less than one year old and exchanged village information with a group of young girls and wives.

Although the days were tiring, they were fulfilling and promising, but Wu Song was a little restless.

He had been wandering with Song Jiang for several years, and he was tired of it, so he accepted the land distribution conditions of Prince Zhu and planned to be a small landlord in the suburbs of Tokyo.

After getting a wife and having a son, life became smooth, but Wu Song began to miss the days of fighting and killing.

He felt that he was not suitable for being a farmer, especially last year when the news of victory came frequently. Wu Song wanted to join the army to serve the country and fight for a title and a son with his ability.

Unfortunately, he already had a wife and children at this time, and no other family members to help take care of him, so he could not get away for two or three years.

"Three stars... four stars in a row?"

Wu Jialiang, who was telling stories to the children in the village, stood up suddenly while looking at the western sky.

Venus, Mars, and Saturn appeared on the horizon. And Jupiter was hanging in the sky at a 30-degree angle to the horizon.

The children saw the teacher looking at the sky, so they stood up and looked at it.

It was almost dark, and Mercury was gradually approaching.

Wu Jialiang said excitedly: "Five stars in a row, a great auspicious sign!"

In fact, this year is "eight stars in a row".

It's just that Uranus and Neptune cannot be seen with the naked eye, and the earth as a planet was not counted by Wu Jialiang.

"What are you looking at, sir?" Wu Song handed the bowl to his wife and walked to Wu Jialiang curiously.

Wu Jialiang pointed to the western sky: "Five stars in a row, this means that the Holy Son of Heaven is alive, and the God of Heaven has sent down an auspicious sign!"

Wu Song became more and more confused as he looked: "How can there be five stars in a row?"

Wu Jialiang said: "At the junction of the western sky and the earth, the three are Venus, Mars, and Saturn in order. Going up, the bright one is Jupiter. Mercury is slowly approaching, and soon the five stars will be in a row."

Wu Song finally understood after a long time, and said in awe: "Such an auspicious sign, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty must be blessed by God."

Not only were they observing the celestial phenomena, but there were also many people in the city who were concentrating on looking up at the starry sky.

Officials of the Astronomical Institute were mobilized collectively.

At this time in history, the Jin army was sweeping across Hebei and Shanxi.

Zongze, Ma Kuo, Han Shizhong, Zhai Jin and others took the lead in raising troops to resist the Jin army.

Ma Kuo also used the name of Prince Xin Zhao Zhen, saying that Prince Xin had escaped from the Jin camp and gathered volunteers at Wuma Mountain to raise the banner of anti-Jin.

Ma Kuo led 500 people across the Yellow River, first met Zongze in Tokyo, and then went to the imperial court to meet Zhao Gou.

The number of civil and military officials around Zhao Gou was less than 100, and the Song Dynasty was in the most critical moment - what's the use of the five stars in a row?

A carriage drove to Donghua Gate, and Li Hanzhang brought his second wife in.

Tonight, the prince held a banquet in the East Palace, and only invited Li Hanzhang, Qian Chen, Chen Dong, Meng Zhao and their wives.

The four of them are the most powerful officials in the Ming Dynasty court!

Zhu Ming is in charge of military power, Li Hanzhang is in charge of personnel, Qian Chen is in charge of finance, Chen Dong is in charge of supervision, and Meng Zhao is in charge of education and public opinion.

The cabinet officials had no executive power at all.

Even the communication of cabinet decisions was controlled by Liang Yi, Zhu Guoxiang's direct disciple. If Liang Yi was unhappy, he would have to give the cabinet ministers some eye drops.

The paper-made Seventh Cabinet Elders seemed to be in a high position, but in fact they were in a miserable situation.

Li Hanzhang and his wife came to the waiting room inside Donghua Gate, where Chen Dong and Qian Chen were already drinking tea and waiting with their wives.

The three families sat together drinking tea and chatting, waiting and waiting, but Meng Zhao did not show up.

Just when they were almost impatient, Meng Zhao and his wife Yu Shanwei finally showed up.

Without waiting for everyone to speak, Meng Zhao said happily: "Five stars in a row, auspicious signs from heaven! I was delayed when I went up to the tower to look at the stars just now."

"Is there really a five-star alignment?" Li Hanzhang, Qian Chen, and Chen Dong were all delighted.

Although Zhu Guoxiang insisted on not having auspicious signs and had always denied the theory of heaven and man's induction, Song Huizong played this trick for more than 20 years, which made the relevant ideas deeply rooted in people's hearts.

Even Chen Dong believed in auspicious signs.

Of course, this belief was selective. He did not believe in the auspicious signs of the former Song Dynasty's foolish emperor, but believed that the new Ming Dynasty was blessed by God.

Li Hanzhang said excitedly: "Go and report to His Highness, let's go up to the city to observe the stars together!"

Chen Dong said: "I'm afraid it's too late."

Due to the position of the planetary orbits, Mercury and Venus are about to disappear in the sky, and the time for the five stars to be observed with the naked eye is very short.

The four families got on the carriage in the palace and went to the East Palace happily and laughing.

The Crown Princess Zhang Jinping and the concubine Zheng Yuanyi were both there. Zhang Jinping was the main wife, but Zheng Yuanyi had a good relationship with Yu Shanwei and others.

The dining table was set up in the yard, with several lanterns hanging around it.

Zhu Ming waved and smiled, "Come and take your seats! I've been very busy since returning to Beijing this year, so I'm inviting you to have a drink now."

Everyone sat down, and Meng Zhao was the first to bow and say, "Congratulations to the emperor and His Highness. When I entered the palace just now, I heard that someone saw five planets in a row. I quickly climbed up to Fan Tower to observe, and it was indeed a five-star row."

Zhu Ming was surprised to hear this, and said with great interest, "Take me to see it quickly."

Meng Zhao said, "If we look at it now, I'm afraid we can only see three stars in a row, as Mercury and Venus have already fallen from the sky. "

"Then forget it," Zhu Ming asked with a smile, "According to the old saying, this conjunction of five planets is a good thing, right?"

After Meng Zhao became the Minister of Rites, he crazily made up for his knowledge of rituals and astronomy, and immediately replied, "It's a very auspicious sign. Liu Bang became king, and Wu Zhao became emperor, both when the five planets were in conjunction."

Zhu Ming reminded, "It's okay to drink and chat, but don't talk about such things that are in harmony with heaven and man in the court in the future."

"Yes!" Meng Zhao quickly agreed, and he was planning to submit a memorial to praise the saint tomorrow.

Since one table couldn't accommodate everyone, men and women ate at separate tables at the moment.

Yu Shanwei sat at the next table and said with a smile: "According to the emperor's heliocentric theory, the conjunction of these five stars only happens once in a hundred years. However, if the angle is relaxed and all conjunctions within 60 degrees are considered conjunctions, then it can actually happen once every twenty years. I just observed the angle and it is a conjunction that only happens once in a hundred years."

Chen Dong was very impressed and said with a bow: "I have often heard that Madam Yu is a rare talent. Today I finally see that she is so proficient in astronomy."

Yu Shanwei has an imperial decree and can indeed be called Madam.

Zheng Yuanyi smiled and said: "Sister Yu was the emperor's right-hand man when she was in Daming Village. Now that she has arrived in the capital, the emperor wanted to give her an official position, but Sister Yu is willing to support her husband and raise her children."

Li Hanzhang pointed at Meng Zhao and joked: "I am afraid she is not supporting her husband and raising her children, but giving her husband advice."

Meng Zhao was not ashamed and proudly raised his glass and said: "I have a virtuous wife who can assist the holy monarch!"

Everyone laughed and stopped exposing their shortcomings.

As the Minister of Rites, he still dared not take a concubine, which was comparable to Fang Xuanling.

Zhu Ming said: "Madam Yu can actually join the Astronomical Institute. If you really can't let go of your family, you don't have to observe every night yourself. You can use other people's observation data for research."

Yu Shanwei was a little moved. She really wanted to be an official.

Li Qingzhao could be a waiter in the Hanlin Academy, so why couldn't she, Yu Shanwei, be an astronomical official?

However, she had to give face to her husband. Yu Shanwei said: "I am already a wife. I must get my husband's permission to go out and do things."

Meng Zhao didn't dare to stop her, and hurriedly said: "Madam, you can do what you want."

Yu Shanwei then stood up and bowed to Zhu Ming: "I thank your Highness for the official position!"

Not to mention the open-minded Northern Song Dynasty, even the increasingly conservative Southern Song Dynasty, there were two women who participated in the imperial examinations.

One was Lin Youyu during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong of Song. Because she was only nine years old at the time, she took the Tongzi Ke (prodigy test). After passing the exam, Song Xiaozong did not let her become an official, but instead made her a Ruren (the title for the wife of a sixth- or seventh-rank official).

This is amazing, a girl who was only nine years old actually had an imperial decree, and the matchmaker trampled the threshold of her house.

Another girl, Wu Zhiduan, was born at the wrong time. It was during the reign of Song Ningzong, when the social atmosphere was more conservative.

Wu Zhiduan passed the first test of the Tongzike, and just before the retest, a minister jumped out to strongly oppose it. The reason was that if this woman became an official in the future, she would meet the court officials every day in gaudy clothes, and would attract onlookers wherever she went. How could she do her job?

The qualification for the retest was cancelled.

Meng Zhao was actually a little worried. He was the Minister of Rites, but his wife was going to be an official. I'm afraid... not afraid, but it would definitely cause criticism!

But Meng Zhao was afraid of his wife. The prince gave him an official position, and his wife agreed, so he didn't dare to object at all.

Zhu Ming's move was actually setting a precedent.

Most of the scholars would not accept women being government officials, but the resistance to being art officials was not that great.

Art officials, also known as technical officials, include medical officials and astronomical officials.

Official printing houses, arsenals, mints... Except for the chief and assistant officials, most of the rest of these institutions are art officials.

Including painters, writers, calligraphers, and musicians around the emperor, all of them are art officials, such as Li Qingzhao's Hanlin Academy attendant.

Open a loophole first, and it will be easier in the future.

If there are still women participating in the imperial examinations in the next one or two hundred years, when they encounter opposition from officials, they can say that there is a precedent for the founding of the Ming Dynasty. Women can be art officials, and they don't have to cause trouble in the court all day long.

Zhu Ming raised his glass and said, "Our Ming Dynasty has a new atmosphere. We already have Yi An Jushi as an attendant, and now we have the wife of the Shangshu as an astronomical official. This is also worth celebrating. Let's drink this cup!"

"Congratulations to the Ming Dynasty!"

Everyone raised their glasses and shouted.