Chapter 181 180 Officialdom
After the imperial examination, Wei Guangde and his friends had a rare period of leisure.
For the Jinshi who aspired to the Hanlin Academy, this period was naturally like sitting on pins and needles. For most people, in fact, who would care much if they knew they were just runners-up?
However, Wei Guangde was shocked by a major event soon, which made Wei Guangde feel for the first time that being a Beijing official was not so easy. One moment he was dressed in fine clothes and riding a horse, and the next moment he was naked.
This matter also has to do with the February joint examination. Li Mo, the Minister of Personnel, asked a question for the joint examination essay, which included the words "Han Wu conquered the four barbarians, but the country was exhausted; Tang Zong attacked Huai and Cai, but his late career was not completed." Zhao Wenhua, the then Minister of Works, framed Li Mo and impeached Li Mo for slandering the court and improper use of personnel.
Li Mo was a man of broad knowledge and talent, proud of his spirit, and did not flatter Yan Song. However, he was shallow and used favors and power to win over others, so he lacked political allies. Especially under the premise that Emperor Jiajing had already disliked him, naturally no one would speak up for him because of admiration for his character.
Li Mo was dismissed from office and imprisoned, and soon died in prison.
However, the matter was not over yet. People had to be given an explanation after being arrested. Because Li Mo was the Minister of Rites, Emperor Jiajing ordered the Minister of Rites Wang Yongbin to try the case.
Under normal circumstances, the emperor had obviously believed the impeachment, and Li Mo had died, so he would naturally have no scruples and should have acted in accordance with the emperor's wishes.
However, Wang Yongbin, who was arranged by Emperor Jiajing, was also a stubborn person. He believed that Li Mo was innocent and insisted on not handling the case according to the instructions of the emperor and the cabinet.
After losing his patience, Emperor Jiajing directly changed Wang Yongbin, the Minister of Rites, to the Minister of Personnel in Nanjing, and promoted Wu Shan, the Left Vice Minister of Personnel, to replace Wang Yongbin.
Originally, this personnel adjustment was planned long ago, but changing Wang Yongbin's retirement from the position of Beijing Minister of Rites to Nanjing Minister of Personnel was already a humiliation for him.
The Minister of Personnel was known as the Heavenly Official, and he controlled the power of official promotion. He was definitely more popular than the Ministry of Rites, but the Minister of Rites was more noble and closer to the cabinet, so most officials who had the opportunity to impact the cabinet throne were eager for this position.
But the six ministries in Nanjing were not so good.
Originally, he could retire as the first person under the cabinet, but now he was thrown to Nanjing.
Wei Guangde was a little bit unbelievable when he heard the news.
Think about it half a month ago, after the imperial street praised the official, they ran to the Ministry of Rites to meet the Grand Master of the Imperial Clan. It was impossible to imagine that the old man would encounter such a disaster.
In the final analysis, Li Mo offended Yan Song and Zhao Wenhua. Zhao Wenhua took action to overthrow Li Mo, and Wang Yongbin, who was fair in his dealings, did not want to frame his colleagues. As a result, he lost points with Emperor Jiajing and got himself involved.
Everyone was saying that it was actually Yan Song who took action, but he was just pretending to be Zhao Wenhua.
Well, anyway, it’s better to put all the blame on Yan Song, that’s the clean stream, although there is no trace of Yan Song’s action in the whole incident.
However, it is true that Li Mo had many conflicts with Yan Song in understanding the problem, and it may be possible that he really acquiesced.
Before entering the officialdom, the Li Mo case taught Wei Guangde a good lesson.
However, at this time, Wei Guangde was really worried when he looked at the letters sent from home in his room.
The letters were naturally family letters sent from Jiujiang, and were asked by merchants traveling to the capital to bring them up.
The contents of the first part of the family letter made Wei Guangde smile. His father and his family already knew that he had passed the imperial examination. When he wrote the letter, they didn't know his results in the palace examination, but he had already earned face for his parents.
The contents of the latter part made Wei Guangde a little confused. It was a good thing to give him more money, but his family planned not to hand over the money to him, but to help him buy land. His elder brother also wanted to buy land, all under his name. What the hell was this?
Wei Guangde planned to find an opportunity to report the matter of "dividing the land tax into mu" and wait until he was appointed as an official and had a suitable reason to report it. It was not okay to report it for no reason.
However, looking at the family letter in his hand, Wei Guangde was a little embarrassed again.
Dividing the land tax into mu, to put it bluntly, is to transfer the money that the common people should have paid in the past to the landlords, so that the landlords can pay this part of the land tax.
Those with more land pay more, and those with less land pay less.
Although he was an official, he could evade the tax in the name of "tax exemption" and let other landlords pay it, but what about the future?
What if his sons and grandsons were not good at the imperial examinations, and these fields would have to pay more taxes.
Although he was still young, Wei Guangde was still used to thinking about things in the long run.
He reached out to take the teacup and found that the tea had cooled down. He was about to call Zhang Ji to add more water, but then he remembered that Zhang Ji had gone to see the courtyards in Beijing with the owner of the guild hall today, so he had to give up.
Wei Guangde folded the letter and put it in the envelope, and then put it in his box, and then he got up and went out.
At this time, the city of Jiujiang was once again filled with drums and music, and firecrackers were blasting.
But this was also expected, after all, Jiujiang City had two tribute scholars this time, which meant that two people had passed the imperial examination.
When the postman sent the palace examination results to the prefectural government, the current prefect of Jiujiang frowned when he saw it.
Last time, the results of the imperial examination came out. According to normal circumstances, the Lao family must have become rich. After all, Lao Kan ranked very high. If nothing unexpected happened, he would definitely be a second-class Jinshi. So he chose to go to the Lao family to congratulate them.
Well, the results of this palace examination did have a big reversal. Wei Guangde, who was at the bottom of the list before, turned around and rushed directly to the first place in the second class and became a candidate for the imperial examination.
With two second-class candidates, the prefect of Jiujiang didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
The announcement outside was ready, and the people from Dehua County Yamen had arrived. The prefect went out to arrange the personnel for this good news.
Naturally, he had to go out to announce the good news in person, but it was completely different from the last time he delivered the good news of the imperial examination. This time, the prefect must go to Wei Qianhu's house to congratulate him.
As for Lao Kan, the Dehua County Magistrate went there.
After receiving the announcement from the Jiujiang prefectural yamen, Wu Zhankui and Zhang Shigui were also extremely shocked. This ranking was too weird.
They did not doubt the authenticity of the good news. Could it be that some link in the yamen was wrong? This matter would not be wrong.
All the officials of Jiujiang Guard went out of the Guard Command Office to congratulate the Wei family and ask for a cup of wedding wine. They followed the officials and runners in the prefectural office to the Wei family with music and drums.
After the palace examination results were announced in the office, several people with quick legs and feet ran to the Wei and Lao families like crazy. They were the messengers who were vying to announce the good news, just to earn some wedding money.
At this time, the street where the Wei family was located was still the same as usual. There were two servants standing outside the gate of the Wei family. One was Uncle Lin who had been guarding the door, and the other was a young man following him.
Obviously, the Wei family had been prepared and were waiting for the day when the palace examination news came.
There were three groups of people who came to the Wei family to announce the news. At this time, more than ten people were running out of breath. The gongs, drums and suonas did not make any sound. They just ran forward to see who ran faster.
Although they were not from the same group, they all got the news from the government office. They couldn't just beat up the other two groups of reporters and go grab the wedding money.
One-on-two may not be good. Maybe you fight with one group and the other group runs away first.
All three groups thought the same way and wanted to speed up to run ahead, but the speed of the three groups was almost the same.
There was no way. The leaders of the three groups negotiated while running and soon reached an agreement to share the wedding money equally. After all, everyone had someone behind them.
In the past few sessions, Jiujiang Prefecture had no good news about the imperial examination, so those who specialized in the business of reporters didn't care much anymore, thinking that this time it might be the same, and there would be no results in the imperial examination.
Well, I didn't expect that four people passed the imperial examination this time, and there were two in Jiujiang Prefecture, but it made several government officials who had access to the good news very upset.
Naturally, they arranged the staff early and waited for the good news of the palace examination to be delivered today, so there was a scene of three people competing to report the good news to the Wei family.
When they were almost at the door, the three groups of people slowed down their pace, adjusted their breathing, and started playing music to make the atmosphere more festive.
Uncle Lin, the doorman, had noticed that more than a dozen people were running over there. When they were almost here, they suddenly slowed down, and then played music and were about to enter the door. This was naturally not allowed.
But they ignored Uncle Lin's obstruction. The three leaders of the three groups jumped and shouted to the inside of the door: "Congratulations to your young master Wei Guangde for getting the first place in the second class of the palace examination and being listed in the yellow class in the Beijing newspaper."
The three groups kept shouting at the door. In fact, after they shouted the first time, Uncle Lin's action of pushing them away was stagnant. After the second shout, he confirmed that he had heard it correctly, and ran into the house first to report the good news to Wei Qianhu.
Wei Meng was sitting in the lobby, still thinking about buying land. He also heard the noise outside, but thought it was someone getting married and didn't pay much attention to it.
After deciding to buy the land, the Wei family naturally arranged for people to find sellers who were willing to sell the land.
Not to mention, this time they were lucky enough to find sellers of two plots of land, but the land was not big, one plot was more than ten acres, and the other plot was more than thirty acres.
The doorman Uncle Lin ran in, "Master, Master, the second young master got the first place in the second class in the palace examination."
Uncle Lin rushed into the hall without announcing. Wei Meng raised his eyebrows at first, and then his face flushed instantly after hearing what he said clearly.
"The reporter is outside the door."
Seeing Wei Meng's performance, Uncle Lin said hurriedly.
He didn't know much about the imperial examination and the palace examination, but after Wei Guangde passed the imperial examination, he asked someone about what the imperial examination and the palace examination were, and what the ranking was, so now he knew that the first place in the second class mentioned by the reporter was indeed a bit illusory.
"Go out and have a look."
When Wei Meng came out, the three reporters were still there shouting congratulations in hoarse voices, and many pedestrians around had already surrounded the gate of the Wei family.
Everyone knew that the second son of the Wei family was taking the imperial examination in the capital. The government office had already reported the good news last time. At this moment, many onlookers were still discussing what kind of official the second-class first place would be.
"Are you reporters from the government office?"
Wei Meng looked at them and said.
"Congratulations to your master Wei Guangde for getting the second-class first place in the palace examination and being listed in the yellow class in the Beijing newspaper."
When the three saw Wei Meng coming out, they all bowed in tacit understanding and shouted in unison.
Wei Meng's mouth curled up, "Second-class first place, are you sure?"
The words were said with a smile, but the soldier was full of murderous intent.
This is a scam, right? This is what Wei Meng was thinking at the moment. He was extorting money from him.
The tone was unfriendly, and the four personal soldiers who followed him also looked unfriendly, staring at the dozen people who reported the good news.
The three leaders saw that it was not good, and they dared not breathe. One of the smarter ones quickly said: "Report to Master Wei, the news is true, we all make a living in this business."
He pointed at the people watching around him and said, "We are all living in Jiujiang City. They all know us. How dare we report the news of the imperial examination."
After he said this, many passers-by around knew them. They knew that they were the ones who reported the good news in the previous college and provincial examinations, and they all nodded to Wei Meng.
"Did he really get the first place in the second class?"
Wei Meng still didn't believe it and asked fiercely.
"Master Wei, Master Wei Qianhu, I dare not say anything. It's true. It's absolutely true."
The reporter said hurriedly, almost swearing to the sky.
"Come on, bring out the plates and give them rewards."
Wei Meng was excited. Before entering the door, he ordered Uncle Lin again, "Give them the reward money as you said before, and give me the two plates of wedding money."
After saying that, he went into the door without looking back and went to the backyard to tell his wife that the second son had earned face this time. He got the first place in the second class. He is going to be an official in Beijing.
The silver cannot be used to buy land near Jiujiang. Some silver must be taken to the capital to let his son set up an estate there.
Wei Meng entered the house, and the three groups of people who reported the good news also happily received five ingots of ten taels of silver ingots. Then two personal soldiers held a winnowing basket in each hand, which was filled with golden copper coins.
"Sprinkle the wedding money, the master is very happy, sprinkle the wedding money"
He shouted loudly and suddenly raised the winnowing basket in his hand, scattering the copper coins in the air, and then dropped them on the ground and rolled around.
The passers-by and the reporters outside were all full of ecstasy and bent down to grab the copper coins scattered on the ground. At this time, on the street, whether it was the elderly or children, men or women, they were all doing the same action, that is, bending down to pick up the wedding money.
After Wei Meng passed the news to the back, he heard the beating of gongs and drums outside the door and immediately asked the servants to open the middle door to welcome people in. This time it must be someone from the government office who came to deliver the good news.
The money that was scattered earlier had been snatched away by the onlookers, but most people did not disperse and gathered on the street, all smiling and watching the Wei family's celebration.
On both sides of the gate, Uncle Lin commanded several personal soldiers to hang up firecrackers. Wei Meng came out and saw his colleagues and the prefect. Wei Meng was only slightly surprised, but did not think much about it, because his son had taken the first place in the second class.
As the sound of firecrackers suddenly rose, everyone walked into the gate, and the Jiujiang prefect unfolded the good news and read it loudly to Wei Meng and others.
"Good news - in the 35th year of the Jiajing reign, the imperial examination for the imperial examination of the whole country, Wei Guangde won the first place in the second class and was granted the title of Jinshi."
After reading the good news, the official who came to announce the good news shouted in unison: "Congratulations to your master Wei Guangde for passing the imperial examination and being listed in the imperial newspaper."
The good news was just a notice. Of course, there was no "Emperor Fengtian Chengyun" or anything like that. It was just to inform you that someone in your family had taken the exam. That was it.
Old man Wei took the yellow paper from the prefect with both hands. The paper was not big, but there were two flying dragons printed on both sides. The big words "good news" on the far right still made him cry with joy. He didn't care to look at the other seals on it, and only stared at the five big words "first place in the second class".