The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Jinda 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 be able to win the top prize.

For a person like Yan Song, it is not too much to say that he is an extremely human minister.

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

The chief minister of the cabinet must enter the palace to audition for the position of examiner. With the current power of chief minister Yan, if he wants to suppress a Jinda, he does not need to speak, just signaling is enough.

"I'm afraid Jinda is fifty, right?"

When he saw Jinda at the last banquet, Wei Guangde didn't say a few words to him. He 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 would still have a chance to get a good rank in the exam. He was probably past his golden age for writing.

However, I really didn't expect that he would actually win the Huiyuan.

While a few people were chatting, they suddenly heard a commotion at the end of the list. Many people were trying to avoid something and backed away.

Soon, after the people dispersed, Wei Guangde saw an old man in his fifties collapsed on the ground. He was holding the ground with only one hand, while the other hand was pointing at the list, seeming to be whimpering. Cry.

There were two people standing next to him, and they seemed to be saying something to him. I didn't know whether it was to comfort him or something else.

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

But I heard Xia Kefan on the side sigh, "That's Brother Zhenchuan, right?"

Xia Kefan is the oldest among the few people here to be qualified to be elected as a candidate. He has been in Beijing the longest and knows the most people.

"Zhenchuan?"

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

"I'm afraid he is the oldest one among the candidates who took part in the examination this time. The candidate who was elected in the 19th year of Jiajing's 19th year must have failed this time for the sixth time."

Xia Kefan shook his head and said.

Looking over from the bottom of the list, Xia Kefan didn't see that person's name. Looking at him now, he naturally guessed that he was not on the list again, that's why.

"I don't know who Zhenchuan you are talking about"

Someone next to him heard his previous words and asked at this time.

"There will be light in Kunshan."

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

Wei Guangde pouted, what else could he say, admiring his perseverance in the imperial examination?

Failure six times means that it has been eighteen years since he passed the examination. If it had been anyone else, he would have gone home and stopped playing.

Wei Guangde looked at the man from the side. His hair and beard were all white, and he was still taking the exam in the capital.

He has already passed the exam. At such an old age, his grandson may be running around. Wouldn't it be better to go home and enjoy the happiness?

Shaking his head, he was about to continue looking at the list in front of him. At this moment, several people walked past him. They were probably that person's friends.

For his own obsession, he has been staying in the capital to take the exam. It seems to be persistent, but in fact it is a bit selfish. Could it be that he has not thought about his family in the south, who is still waiting for news about him in the south, and worried about whether he is safe?

Wei Guangde lost interest, said goodbye to Zeng Shengwu, and continued walking forward. He estimated that Jinda should be in front at this time.

"That's fine, you can go ahead. The top Gongshi will gather at the top of the list this time. We'll be there soon."

Zeng Shengwu smiled.

The two groups separated, and Wei Guangde continued to walk forward. As he walked, he looked at his peers. The tributes in front were gathering, and they were probably looking for a place to have a drink.

After the examination is over, the government will not hold any banquets or ceremonies. Those will have to wait until the imperial examinations on March 15th are completed, which is the Qionglin Banquet.

When Wei Guangde and others returned to the Jiujiang Guild Hall in the evening, drunk, Zhang Ji took the red good news from the Gongyuan from the shopkeeper. Wei Guangde nodded to him with a silly smile, and was then helped into his room by Zhang Ji.

Wei Guangde is really satisfied now, and there is no pressure because of his lower ranking. Wei Guangde himself has never thought about winning the top pick, which is unrealistic.

He is very satisfied with his current life. Once he becomes an official, his life will only be better in the future.

In the next few days, the Jiangxi Guild Hall sent out invitations to the banquet, and the recipients were naturally the tributes who passed this year's examination. Wei Guangde and four other Jiujiang tributes naturally went to the banquet with pleasure.

What Wei Guangde didn't expect was that Jinda once again humiliated Yan Shifan at the banquet. Apparently, he really didn't intend to get the title of No. 1 pick.

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

In any case, today is a banquet attended by Jiangxi Gongshi, so we should temporarily put aside some prejudices. Even if we are still dissatisfied with the Yan family, there is no need to disobey them in front of so many people.

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

Wei Guangde could only mourn for Jinda in his heart. People say that when you get older, you should think more openly. I didn't expect that this guy who is almost fifty is still so angry. Isn't it just a glass of wine?

In public, Wei Guangde did not try to curry favor with Yan Shifan. His target was Mr. Yan Song, but he never thought highly of this little Mr. Ge.

In the more than two months since he came to Beijing, Wei Guangde has often heard rumors about this money-grubbing man. It has almost become an open secret in the capital to accept money to do things.

I also have to admire the Yan family's holy family. It can almost be said that the whole city is in trouble, but the Yan family can still do nothing.

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, Minister of War, Xu Lun, Minister of Civil Affairs, Wu Peng, Minister of Hubu, Fang Rui, Minister of Punishment, He Ao, Du Cha Yuan Zuo Du Yushi Zhou Yan, Zhan Shifu's Zuo Shilang and Academician of the Hanlin Academy, Min Rulin, Ministry of Industry Lei Li, the right minister of the Ministry of Industry, Zhao Wenhua, the right minister of the Ministry of Industry, Zhang Shunchen, the minister of Dali Temple, Yin Tai, the Shao Zhan minister and the minister of the Hanlin Academy, and Yuan Weichong, the scholar of the Hanlin Academy."

Like the previous examinations, in addition to the emperor directly appointing the examiner, the Ministry of Rites will also ask for the transfer officer, the examiner, the official, 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 had to make 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 say "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 the usual practice, 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 line according to 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 took all the tributes and entered through 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 well 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, the Ministry of War and other powerful offices were 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 city 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 and continue to move forward respectfully behind the person in front.

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. Wei Guangde seemed to have a little misconception. When Li Zicheng's army of refugees 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.

In Wei Guangde's mind, he vaguely remembered seeing an old photo, and he didn't know which country's army it was. The picture showed the coalition troops stationed in the palace.

Wei Guangde's mood became depressed for some reason.

He had been here before, perhaps walking at the same pace as the refugee army, walking in as casually as a stroll, and at the same time he looked around to see what the emperor's home looked like.

Wei Guangde still vaguely remembered that there seemed to be a house on the left side of the front gate, which seemed to be the ticket office selling tickets to the Forbidden City.

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

After passing through Duanmen, there were already people standing under the city gate in front, all the civil and military ministers who were in court today.

The first and fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year is a big court meeting, and all the officials in the capital must participate. Moreover, today is also the day of the imperial examination, so I rushed here without any special delay, maybe because I want to relive the path I have walked.

Most of the people in the crowd were like them.

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

But at this time, Wei Guangde was standing in the crowd, feeling really bad.

The memory of that night came back to him.

After the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty became the Qing Dynasty, and the Han people became slaves, and then the modern history of humiliation began.

In the past, Wei Guangde only wanted to muddle along. He didn't believe that a scumbag like himself could change anything. The wheel of history was not something that a little butterfly like him could influence.

If you try to change, you may be crushed to pieces.

The era I traveled through was pretty good, at least it wasn't the Chongzhen era. Even if I passed the Jinshi exam at that time, I wouldn't dare to go to Beijing to take the test. The road to the north was really dangerous and unpredictable.

But I am afraid that my descendants will suffer, and I don’t know whether it is my grandson or which generation.

By this time, Wei Guangde's originally prepared mood for the exam was gone, leaving only heaviness.

Perhaps it was the time when Wei Guangde heard the sound of bells and drums. Several doors to the rooms under the corner were also opened. Officials came out. They walked directly into the left and right doors that had been opened on both sides of the Meridian Gate. The officials outside They followed them through the left and right gates.

Those in front were all in red official robes, while those in blue official robes could only follow behind them, just like the queue of tributes, because they were ranked in front and back, and the hierarchy was strict.

Wei Guangde felt a little heavy at this time, and when he saw the situation in front of him, he couldn't help but feel unwilling to do so.

For those who are destined to be the top three, under normal circumstances, they may not have the opportunity to put on that scarlet robe and become a fourth-grade 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, leaving only groveling slaves.

Although he had only been in the Ming Dynasty for a few years, Wei Guangde had already seen too much darkness in this era.

Think about the conclusion that the Ming Dynasty actually failed because of finances in later generations. Did the Ming Dynasty have no money?