The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Wei Guangde entered the Gongyuan and assisted his second assistant Li Chunfang in presiding over the Jinke Examination, but the government would not be temporarily suspended because of this.

The memorial jointly signed by Gaoyi and Wei Guangde requesting the change of the palace for the ceremony of establishing the crown prince was quickly approved by Emperor Longqing, and the east corridor of Wenhua Hall was chosen to face the west side hall.

Just as Chen Yiqin and Wei Guangde feared, in February, Xuanfu and Datong sent battle reports one after another, and the Andu Department once again gathered troops to provoke border provocations.

Xu Jie, the chief minister of the cabinet and a bachelor, had been serving the first-grade salary for another nine years, but he resigned. Emperor Longqing personally praised him, saying, "You have been loyal to the late emperor for a long time, and your honors are worthy of my bow, and your achievements are prosperous."

Now that the nine years have come to an end, I am very pleased that his praise has remained the same, and the officials have decided to hear about the grace he deserves. "

At the same time, the Ministry of Rites also invited the Holy Master to offer sacrifices to the ancestors.

Worshiping ancestors is one of the auspicious rituals of the Ming Dynasty. It is usually held before the start of farming every spring to encourage farming and pray for a good harvest.

Xiannong refers to the god of agriculture who taught people how to farm in the legend. It refers to different people, sometimes it is Shennong, sometimes it is Houji.

In the first year of Hongwu, Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor personally offered sacrifices to ancestors in the spring and February of each year. After the sacrifice ceremony, the emperor personally cultivated the fields, which became a practice.

However, this activity was seriously damaged during the Jiajing Dynasty, because the Jiajing Emperor was not willing to participate in such things that would affect his cultivation, and most of them chose nobles to do it on his behalf.

Last year, it was the emperor's visit, so Emperor Longqing also followed the previous practice and asked Cheng Guo Gong Zhu Xizhong to act on his behalf.

But this year, naturally it can no longer continue like this, so Gao Yi hopes that Emperor Longqing can go there in person, and the memorial is still accompanied by a note on plowing the fields.

Therefore, the beginning of the year is the busiest time for the Ministry of Rites. Not to mention the triennial examinations and palace examinations, since the winter solstice, the activities prepared by the Ministry of Rites have been one after another.

The plan that Wei Guangde arranged for was also reported soon after the handover, which was the Tianshou Mountain Spring Festival.

Every year, the emperor would visit Tianshou Mountain at the end of February and pay homage to several emperors' mausoleums. It is called the Mid-Autumn Festival among the people.

When the emperor travels, he will naturally not travel lightly. Not only will he arrange a large army around him in advance, but because the time will be delayed for more than ten days, many things must be carefully planned in advance.

However, these have nothing to do with Wei Guangde now. At the moment, he and Li Chunfang are presiding over the order of the examination room, and then reading the examination papers sent by the examiners in each room.

Wei Guangde thought to himself that he could not write a good article that would shock the world. The things that later generations learned were limited, and he could use very little, but he still had the ability to appreciate.

Regardless of whether Li Chunfang was the top scholar or not, his knowledge must have been very high, otherwise he might have been singled out to be inspected by Emperor Jiajing.

The two of them had no selfish intentions this time, and everything went smoothly with their cooperation in selecting the test paper.

In fact, as Wei Guangde heard before, although it was his first time to host such an exam, the ranking of the candidates was roughly determined in the first session, and there would only be small differences in the second and third sessions. Modify, adjust.

Now, what he and Li Chunfang were facing were the examination papers that had been reviewed and pre-selected by each room master. He and Mr. Li Ge had initially drawn up a ranking, which was commonly known as the "draft list."

"Mr. Li Ge, would you like to summon the officials from the Ministry of Rites to come here to pick up the ink scroll?"

It is already the last time to fill in the list. Although the draft list is completed, the "Red Roll" to be admitted and the "ink roll" of the candidates still need to be "checked". Those with incorrect numbers will be discarded and not taken.

In fact, the papers that the examiners saw were transcribed ink papers, not the ink papers written in the examination.

However, in order to prevent fraud, ink scrolls and ink scrolls must be used to check before filling in the results.

Li Chunfang raised her hand and waved, indicating to the left and right to call for someone.

Soon, all the officials in the Gongyuan arrived, and they all nodded after reading the grass list and the red scroll.

"Send all the ink rolls here."

Li Chunfang opened his mouth and gave instructions.

Immediately, a clerk came in carrying a numbered box and placed it in the hall.

"Shandai, it's up to you to arrange the next thing."

Li Chunfang spoke to Wei Guangde.

"yes."

Wei Guangde bowed, and then picked up the draft list, starting from the last one, but he read out the number of the examination room.

Emperor Kelongqing has decided to take 320 people for the exam, so the first one is naturally the 320th person for the exam.

As the number was read out, the clerk corresponding to the box quickly rummaged through the box, quickly found the corresponding ink roll, and then brought the ink roll to the table in front of Li Chunfang.

The clerk next to him also presented the ink scroll. Li Chunfang lowered his head and looked at it carefully for a while, then nodded. The ink scroll and the ink scroll were quickly transferred to Wei Guangde's desk, and then to other officials.

Behind them, the Censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Colonel in Jinyi just stood casually on one side, but their eyes kept glancing back and forth at them.

Of course, the Censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Captain of Jinyi are not responsible for grading, but they are supervising them all the time, observing their eyes, speech and behavior, etc., and then writing official documents according to their own judgment.

This feeling made Wei Guangde feel bad, but this was the rule.

Although, Wei Guangde felt that these rules had little effect.

The lists of more than 300 people were determined one by one and filled in on the A list. This was the result of their work for half a month.

Wang Jiaping. Li Changchun. Zhao Zhigao. Huang Fengxiang.

After working for a long time, Wei Guangde finally knew who Jinke's "Huiyuan" was, Huang Fengxiang.

After the errand was done, everyone was smiling, but it was hard to say whether it was true or false. At least Wei Guangde had a smile on his face at this time, as if he was very happy because he was serving the country, but in fact he felt that smile Somewhat fake.

Wei Guangde really didn't expect that in the first examination he hosted, not even one person from his hometown would pass.

Yes, Wei Guangde met everyone from Jiujiang Prefecture who came to Beijing to take the imperial examination before and after the Spring Festival. He also met many candidates from Jiangxi Province.

I roughly counted them silently and found that more than fifty candidates from Jiangxi were admitted to this examination. Their scores were actually pretty good, but none of them were from Jiujiang. I don’t know what will happen if this is reported back to my hometown.

In fact, Jiujiang Prefecture's performance in Jiangxi's imperial examinations can only be said to be average, far behind Nanchang and Jihua. Even Jiangxi's reputation as a major imperial examination province is mainly supported by these two places.

At this time, Wei Guangde realized with hindsight that no wonder people said that there were "joints" in the ancient imperial examinations, perhaps to prevent the situation he encountered now.

Yes, Wei Guangde felt a little regretful at this moment, not letting the candidates from his hometown have a joint in advance.

I have no experience. If I had known about this situation earlier, I would have arranged everything in advance. No matter what I said, I would have had someone from my hometown be on the list.

Looking at the piles of test papers in those boxes, they were all failed students. He couldn't find the papers even if he wanted to search for them, because there was no "joint" before. This was tantamount to finding a needle in a haystack.

It would be great if even one person is on the list, tsk tsk

Unfortunately for them, they encountered an inexperienced fellow examiner.

Wei Guangde muttered in his heart.

In fact, in the forty-fourth year of Jiajing's reign, he had hopes of going to the Gongyuan Academy and participating in the examination for that subject. However, at that time, he was busy trying to flatter Emperor Jiajing, so he pushed out the job himself.

Although the results satisfied him and Emperor Jiajing rewarded him for his hard work, he ultimately lost an opportunity to gain experience as an examiner.

Exam fraud

When he returned to his rest room, Wei Guangde was still thinking about this matter.

In the past, when he read books, he only thought that most of the so-called "imperial examination fraud" was due to money and connections. Now he understood that some examiners had to do some cheating things. In fact, the things they considered may not necessarily have money and other benefits. , just to help my old family and gain some reputation in my hometown.

As for Li Chunfang, you can tell by looking at his smile that he must be prepared and he is very satisfied.

Li Chunfang presided over the audition for the first time after joining the cabinet, but she never missed the opportunity to participate in it before.

This may also be a tacit understanding between the emperor and the ministers.

No wonder people say that they should participate in the examination, because most of the officials who can get this opportunity are those who are in the heart of the emperor and have the opportunity to join the cabinet.

Arranging for them to take charge of the examination is actually a disguised form of welfare provided by the emperor.

However, Wei Guangde did not seize this opportunity because of his lack of experience.

Early in the morning on February 28th, there was a sea of ​​people outside the Shuntian Prefecture Gongyuan. Countless candidates from all over the world came here together, all wanting to see the examination list with their own eyes.

In fact, everyone was in the same mood. Those who were on the list had already received the good news in the early morning and knew that they were on the list.

Candidates who failed can come here, so they can naturally face the reality of failure calmly. In addition, they also come here with the mentality of just in case.

After the examination results were released, the burden on Wei Guangde and others' shoulders was also lifted. Although he could not leave the Gongyuan for the time being, he could still learn about the news from the outside. After all, he had been in confinement for more than half a month, and he didn't want to know about the situation in the outside world all the time.

Emperor Longqing left Beijing at noon yesterday and went to the Spring Festival at Tianshou Mountain. Cabinet ministers Xu Jie, Chen Yiqin and others accompanied him. Minister of Rites Gaoyi and others also went, leaving British Duke Zhang Rong and Zuodu Yushi Wang Ting to guard the capital.

After Li Chunfang came out of Gongyuan, she naturally stayed at the cabinet, while Wei Guangde returned to the Ministry of Rites tomorrow and would temporarily take over the seal of the Ministry of Rites.

In fact, Wei Guangde had expected this for a long time, and he also knew that the emperor would leave the capital in the next day or two.

I didn't expect that An Dahan would have the courage to come to Xuanfu to provoke him after he failed to find a chance in Xuanfu one after another. The key was actually successful.

Yes, Ma Fang made a big mistake this time. He neglected his duties, which caused heavy losses to the Ming army in Xuanfu in February.

On February 17, I invaded Chaigou Fort, Xinzhuang and other places. Han Shangzhong, who was guarding the area, died in the battle. Deputy Commander-in-Chief Tong Deng fought hard and was spared.

Wei Guangde couldn't help but feel his face burning when he heard the news. What did he say in front of Chen Yiqin at that time?

If a general cannot anticipate the enemy's opportunities, it means he is incompetent and should be dismissed.

He really didn't expect Ma Fang to be negligent. You know, Ma Fang was very cautious in the past.

The Ministry of War has not yet issued any punishment for this matter. It is estimated that they will not make a decision until after the palace examination and a thorough understanding of the Xuanfu situation.

However, after losing the battle, Ma Fang was inevitably in trouble.

When Wei Guangde left Gongyuan and returned home, it was already afternoon. He took a nice bath. When he came out, he saw his wife Xu Jianglan and someone bringing her official uniform.

"Husband, look at it, this is the Feiyu suit sent by Eunuch Liu, the eunuch Liu Dayong from your harem. Just try it out to see if it fits."

Xu Jianglan asked people to offer him clothes, and then hurriedly helped Wei Guangde put on his clothes.

"How about it?"

Thank you, this is the first time Wei Guangde has been treated like this. After putting on the slut, he walked around in front of Xu Jianglan.

Although his father once received a Kirin suit as a reward for his efforts in suppressing the Japanese, this was the first time that it had happened to him.

The emperor of the Ming Dynasty did not have a yellow mandarin jacket, and the highest-level uniform was a python suit, second only to the dragon robe worn by the emperor.

The python pattern is very similar to the dragon pattern. The only difference is that the dragon has five claws and the python has four claws. They are only awarded to eunuchs, eunuchs, cabinet ministers, ministers of the Ministry of War, princes, etc.

Wearing a python robe represents prosperity and wealth, and you also need to wear a jade belt, and there are two types: sitting on the python and walking on the python.

In terms of dignity, sitting on a python is higher than walking on a python.

The second-class gift is the flying fish suit. The prototype of the flying fish is the stingray in the "Book of Mountains and Seas". In the late Ming Dynasty, it evolved into a python-shaped flying fish. The image has a dragon head and two horns, fins without wings, and retains the characteristics of a rolled fish tail.

Feiyu uniforms are generally awarded to meritorious officials of the second rank or above, the eunuchs, eunuchs, attendants, and imperial guards.

However, not all Jin Yiwei are qualified to wear Feiyu uniforms. Only Jin Yiwei commanders, the emperor's personal captains and accompanying honor guards, these powerful confidants of the emperor, are eligible to wear them.

The third-class uniform is a bullfighting uniform. Bullfighting is not an ordinary bull, but a legendary horned dragon. The bullfighting resembles a dragon with horns, a python-shaped fish tail, and the horns are curved like horns.

Those who can be awarded bullfighting uniforms include officials of third rank or above, generals who have made meritorious service in guarding the frontier, and people who have received special rewards. There are also examples of officials or famous families being rewarded with bullfighting uniforms, but these are rare exceptions.

Bullfighting is originally a star in the sky, so the recipients feel they have received great honor.

The fourth level is naturally the Kirin suit that Mr. Wei received. It is different from the ordinary image. It has evolved into an image with a dragon head and an elk body, with scales on the body, a lion tail painted on the tail, and an ox-hooves-like foot.

The Qilin pattern was originally a patchwork pattern on the official uniforms of princes and consorts. However, because Qilin is a legendary beast of benevolence and righteousness, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty used Qilin clothing as a gift to reward meritorious officials of the fourth and fifth grades. Although the Jin Yiwei was on duty as a bodyguard, The official position is not high, but because of his special position, he is also allowed to wear unicorn uniforms.

In fact, these gifts look similar from a distance. The bullfighting and unicorn suits are not the image of an animal at all, but more like one.

It is said that Emperor Wanli once mistook the unicorn suit for the flying fish suit, and almost sent the official who wore the flying fish suit to prison because he remembered that he had not given him the flying fish suit, and he was suspected of overstepping his bounds.

Fortunately, I called someone over and realized that I had made a mistake, so I gave up.

Wei Guangde showed off in his Feiyu suit at home for a while. After Wei's mother scolded him, he changed out of it and put on his regular clothes.

"What's going on with this uniform?"

Wei Guangde is still a little confused now. He doesn't know when he got this reward.

Wei's mother couldn't explain clearly, so naturally Xu Jianglan knew better and said it politely.

"The last time your majesty rewarded the assistant ministers and old lecturers, it was not because they promoted me to official positions. According to Eunuch Liu, Long Live Master only remembered this after seeing my resignation and asked the inner court to make up for it."

"So that's it."

Wei Guangde nodded. The previous decree only included submission to cabinet ministers. It turned out that His Majesty had forgotten it at that time. (End of chapter)