Chapter 169 168 Mood

Jin Da won the first prize, but Wei Guangde, Zhang Ke and others knew about the unpleasantness of that night and knew that he would definitely not win the first prize.

For a person like Yan Song, it is not an exaggeration to say that he is a minister of the highest position.

He may not be able to accomplish anything, but he can definitely do harm.

The cabinet chief must be an examiner in the palace examination. With the power of the current chief minister Yan, he doesn't need to say anything to suppress Jin Da, just a gesture is enough.

"Jin Da is probably fifty years old?"

The last time he saw Jin Da at the banquet, Wei Guangde didn't say a few words to him, but just went over to be polite. At that time, he felt that this man was very old.

To be honest, Wei Guangde didn't think that such an old man still had a chance to get a good ranking. The golden age of writing might have passed.

However, he really didn't expect that he would win the first prize.

When a few people were chatting, they suddenly heard a commotion at the end of the list. Many people were avoiding something and retreating.

Soon, after the crowd dispersed, Wei Guangde saw an old man in his fifties who had collapsed on the ground, with only one hand holding the ground, and the other hand pointing at the list, as if he was crying.

Two people stood beside him, seeming to say something to him, and it was unclear whether they were comforting him or not.

Wei Guangde felt a little strange, and casually said: "What's going on over there?"

But he heard Xia Kefan sighing, "That's Brother Zhenchuan."

Xia Kefan was the oldest among the people here who had obtained the qualification of Juren, and he had been in Beijing the longest, and he knew the most people.

"Zhenchuan?"

Zeng Shengwu repeated strangely, obviously he had never heard of this name, and looked very surprised.

"He is probably the oldest among the Juren participating in this examination. He was a Juren in the 19th year of Jiajing, and this should be the sixth time he failed the exam."

Xia Kefan shook his head and said.

Looking from the end of the list, Xia Kefan did not see the man's name. Now seeing him like this, he naturally guessed that he was not on the list again, so he was like this.

"I wonder who the Zhenchuan you are talking about is..."

Someone next to him heard what he said before and asked at this time.

"Kunshan Gui Youguang."

Xia Kefan answered the man's words very directly and said the name of the man on the ground.

Wei Guangde curled his lips. What else can he say? Admire his perseverance in the imperial examination?

He failed the exam six times, which means that it has been eighteen years since he passed the exam to become a juren. If it were someone else, he would have gone home and stopped playing.

Wei Guangde looked at the man on the side. His hair and beard were all white, but he was still taking the imperial examination in the capital.

He is already a juren. At such an old age, his grandchildren are probably running around. Isn't it good to go home and enjoy a peaceful life?

He shook his head and prepared to continue looking at the list in front of him. At this time, several people had already walked by his side. They were probably the man's friends.

For his own obsession, he stayed in the capital to take the exam. It seemed to be persistent, but in fact it was a bit selfish. Didn't he think of his family at all, who were still waiting for his news in the south, and worried about whether he was safe?

Wei Guangde lost interest, bowed to Zeng Shengwu and said goodbye, and continued to move forward. He estimated that Jin Da should be in front now.

"Okay, you go ahead. The successful candidates in this joint examination are all gathering at the top of the list. We will also go there in a while."

Zeng Shengwu smiled.

The two groups separated, and Wei Guangde continued to move forward, looking at his peers while walking. The successful candidates in front gathered and probably wanted to find a place to drink.

After the joint examination, the government will not hold any banquets or ceremonies. Those will have to wait until the list of successful candidates is ranked after the palace examination on March 15, that is, the Qionglin Banquet.

When Wei Guangde and his friends returned to Jiujiang Guild Hall drunk in the evening, Zhang Ji took the big red happy announcement from the Gongyuan from the shopkeeper. Wei Guangde smiled foolishly and nodded at him, and then was helped into his room by Zhang Ji.

Wei Guangde is really satisfied now, and he doesn't feel any pressure because of his low ranking. Wei Guangde himself has never thought about winning the top scholar, which is unrealistic.

He is very satisfied with his current life. As an official, his future life will only be better.

In the next few days, Jiangxi Guild Hall sent out invitations to the banquet again, and the objects were naturally the Gongshi who passed the imperial examination this year. Wei Guangde and the other four Jiujiang Gongshi naturally went to the banquet happily.

What Wei Guangde didn't expect was that Jin Da once again gave Yan Shifan a cold shoulder at the banquet, and it was obvious that he really didn't intend to take the title of top scholar.

Wei Guangde didn't know why this person had such a big grudge against the Yan family.

Anyway, today is a banquet for Jiangxi Gongshi, so we should put aside some prejudices temporarily. Even if we still don't care about the Yan family, there is no need to embarrass them in front of so many people.

The Yan family obviously wanted to repair the relationship with Huiyuan, but it was completely in vain.

Wei Guangde could only mourn for Jin Da in his heart. It is said that people should think more open-mindedly when they are old. I didn't expect that this man was almost fifty and still had such a big temper. Isn't it just a glass of wine?

In public, Wei Guangde did not go up to curry favor with Yan Shifan. His target was Yan Song, but he never thought highly of this young minister.

In the more than two months since he came to Beijing, Wei Guangde has heard a lot of rumors about this greedy man. It has almost become an open secret in Beijing to take money to do things.

I have to admire the emperor's favor of the Yan family. It can almost be said that the whole city is in turmoil, but the Yan family can still have nothing to do.

In the next few days, Wei Guangde and his peers started eating, drinking and having fun in the capital. Regarding the subsequent palace examination, everyone actually had no pressure because they had already ranked well in the examination, so there was nothing else to look forward to.

As for continuing to study, hoping to stand out in the palace examination, it's better to go to sleep.

Wei Guangde, who was at the back of the top three, had no idea about the imperial examination. If he did, it would be how to bribe Mr. Xiaoge to arrange a better position for himself.

Yan Ge Lao never touches this kind of business, it is Xiao Ge Lao who comes forward.

When the time came to March 14, at noon, Wei Guangde heard the news that Zhang Ke heard when he went out, that is, the arrangements for the examiner and other officials for tomorrow's palace examination.

In the Fengtian Hall of the Forbidden City, the great eunuch Huang Jin was reading the edict loudly in the eunuch's unique high-pitched voice:

". In order to test the imperial examination, Yan Song, the young master and the crown prince's official secretary and the official secretary of the prince's official department, Yan Song, the Shaobao and the crown prince's official minister and the Wuying hall scholar Xu Jie, the prince's Taibao and the prince's official secretary and the Wenyuan Pavilion scholar Lu Ben, The Crown Prince Taibao, the Minister of Military Affairs, Xu Lun, the Minister of Civil Affairs, Wu Peng, the Minister of Hubu, Fang Rui, the Minister of Punishment, He Ao, the Imperial Censor of Zuodu, Zhou Yan, the Zuo Shilang of Zhan Shifu and the academician of the Hanlin Academy, Min Rulin, the Minister of Works Lei Li, the right minister of the Ministry of Industry, Zhao Wenhua, the right minister of the Ministry of Industry and in charge of general affairs, Zhang Shunchen, the minister of Dali Temple, Yin Tai, the minister of Shao Zhan and the minister of the Imperial Academy, and Yuan Weichong, the official of the Imperial Academy."

Like the previous examinations, in addition to the emperor directly appointing the examiner, the Ministry of Rites will also invite the transfer officer, the examiner, the granting officer, the examiner, the examiner, etc., each of whom performs their own duties. .

After the morning dynasty, Fengtian Palace was completely handed over to the people of the Ministry of Rites, who were making various preparations for tomorrow's palace examination.

The palace examination is very solemn and grand for the imperial court.

But for the tributes who are about to enter the Fengtian Temple to take the palace examination, they can't do anything except "Oh".

That night, all the tributes who participated in the palace examination chose to go to bed early to gather enough energy to prepare for tomorrow's palace examination.

Early the next morning, Wei Guangde got up early, and under Zhang Ji's service, he put on a brand-new round-neck t-shirt student uniform to attend the palace examination.

According to convention, Emperor Jiajing would still choose to visit Fengtian Hall in person even if it would affect his great cause of cultivating immortals, but it might shorten a lot of time.

Wei Guangde had watched TV before. The scene where Emperor Yongzheng held a lamp for the candidates for the palace examination in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, Wei Guangde believed would never happen.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony at that time was now the Fengtian Hall, also known as the "Jinluan Hall" among the common people.

During Jiaxu Yin in March of the 35th year of the Jiajing reign, Wei Guangde, wearing his own blue robe, and 300 tributes including Lao Kan had gathered outside the Ming Dynasty Gate. Under the arrangement of the officials of the Ministry of Rites, everyone stood in accordance with the examination rankings. Location.

Lao Kan naturally went to the front, while Wei Guangde, Zhang Ke, and Xia Kefan had no choice but to stay behind.

With the completion of the counting ceremony and confirmation that all three hundred tributes were present, officials from the Ministry of Rites asked if there was anyone who could not refer.

There is no doubt that Gongshi automatically qualified for the palace examination. The reason why the officials of the Ministry of Rites asked this question here was naturally out of etiquette. If an elder in Gongshi's family died in the past few days and he got the news, he would have to Stop this palace examination and wait until three years later to participate in the palace examination with the next Gongshi.

Naturally, no one answered his question.

After confirming that it was correct, the officials of the Ministry of Rites led all the tributes into the side door of Daming Gate and walked along the long corridor.

There were high red walls blocking both sides of the corridor, but Wei Guangde knew clearly that behind the wall were several important government offices of the imperial court. The five military governor's offices, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Personnel, and the Ministry of War were all nearby.

This is what later generations called the Thousand-Step Corridor.

Perhaps because the red wall blocked his view, Wei Guangde couldn't tell what was here in the future, and he had no idea at all.

It was very dark at this time, and only a stone lampstand placed not far away on both sides of the corridor emitted light, illuminating a small area around it.

When they walked out of the end of the corridor, their sight became wider, and what they saw in front of them was the city gate that Wei Guangde had seen before - Chengtian Gate.

When they watched the Aoshan Lantern Festival before, they didn't come in through Daming Gate, but from Chang'an Street on both sides. At this time, the streets on both sides had already been closed.

Chengtianmen.

When Wei Guangde saw this familiar tower, he immediately knew where he had just walked. In later generations, the government offices on both sides of the corridor should have been bulldozed and turned into the Great Hall of the People and a museum. The corridor was widened, that is, Tiananmen Square.

Wei Guangde inadvertently turned back and looked at the corridor behind him, but just this inadvertent action caused him to be immediately reprimanded by the Ministry of Rites or the Imperial Censor.

"Don't look around."

Wei Guangde had no choice but to turn around, respectfully follow the person in front and continue moving forward.

After being inspected by the Jinwu Guards here, we passed through the Chengtian Gate. This is an urn city with city walls and gates on both sides and in front. When later generations arrived here, they had already entered the Forbidden City.

Wei Guangde thought in his heart.

Three hundred tributes, led by officials from the Ministry of Rites, marched in a neat queue, which made Wei Guangde seem to have a little misconception. When Li Zicheng's refugee army captured Beijing in the future, they would not march into the palace in such a neat queue. It may have happened only during the Eight-Nation Alliance.

Wei Guangde vaguely remembered seeing an old photo. He didn't know which country's army it was. The accompanying picture said that the coalition forces entered the palace.

Wei Guangde's mood became depressed for some reason.

He had been here before. Perhaps his pace was the same as that of the refugees, walking in casually like a stroll, and looking around to see what the emperor's house looked like.

Wei Guangde also vaguely remembered that there seemed to be a house on the left side of the Duanmen in front. It seemed to be the ticket office, selling tickets for the Forbidden City.

Wei Guangde only dared to think about these in his mind. He didn't dare to look at them now. He was born in a military household and knew some discipline.

After passing through the Duanmen, the city gate in front was full of people. They were all civil and military officials who were going to court today.

The first and fifteenth day of the lunar month was a grand court meeting, and all officials in Beijing had to attend it. Moreover, today was the day of the palace examination, so they came here without any special delay, perhaps wanting to relive the road they had walked.

In the crowd, most of them walked all the way like them.

The line of tribute scholars stood behind the ministers, and most of the civil and military officials turned their heads to look at them. Many of them were still talking to the people around them, pointing at them with their fingers.

However, Wei Guangde, standing in the crowd at this time, was in a bad mood.

The memory of that night came back to his mind.

The Ming Dynasty fell and the Qing Dynasty came. The Han people became slaves, and then there was the humiliating history of modern times.

Wei Guangde used to just muddle through. He didn't believe that a poor student like him could change anything. The wheel of history was not something that a little butterfly like him could influence.

If he tried to change, he might be crushed to pieces.

The era he traveled through was considered good, at least not the time of Chongzhen. In that era, even if he passed the imperial examination, he would not dare to go to Beijing for the joint examination. The road to the north was really dangerous and unpredictable.

But his descendants were afraid that they would suffer, and he didn't know whether it would be his grandchildren or which generation.

At this time, Wei Guangde's prepared mood for the exam had disappeared, leaving only heaviness.

Perhaps it was time. Wei Guangde heard the sound of bells and drums. Several doors in the corners of the wall were opened. Some officials came out from inside. They walked directly into the left and right side doors on both sides of the Meridian Gate. The officials outside followed them through the left and right side doors.

Those in front were all wearing red official robes, and those in blue official uniforms could only follow behind them, just like the queue of tribute scholars, with strict hierarchy due to their rankings.

Wei Guangde felt a little heavy at this time. When he saw the situation in front of him, he unconsciously felt unwilling.

For those who were destined to be in the top three, under normal circumstances, he might not have the opportunity to wear that scarlet robe and become a fourth-rank official, but.

The memory just now appeared in his mind again. I don’t know who mentioned it in later generations. The Ming Dynasty was destroyed, the backbone of the Han people was broken, and only the servile slaves were left.

Although it was only a few years since he came to the Ming Dynasty, Wei Guangde had seen too much darkness in this era.

Think about the judgment of later generations that the Ming Dynasty actually died because of finance. Did the Ming Dynasty have no money?