Chapter 218

Ever since Jia Cong earned the title of top provincial graduate.

The next day, the Ministry of Rites issued a document inviting him to participate in the Deer-Cry Banquet for the Grace Exam provincial graduates.

The Deer-Cry Banquet is a banquet specially organized by the imperial court for new provincial graduates to announce their names, inviting provincial examiners, academic officials, and outstanding scholars to drink and converse together.

For scholars, being qualified to attend the Deer-Cry Banquet is a glorious event on the road to the imperial examinations, and Jia Cong, as the top provincial graduate of this Grace Exam, was naturally the most eye-catching focus of the banquet.

In the few days following the Deer-Cry Banquet, the crowd of people coming to the Jia mansion to offer congratulations also reached its peak, among whom people of noble rank were everywhere.

Those who had old friendships with Jia Cong, such as Prince Prince Jia Shun, Prince Ning, Minister of War Gu Yankui, Marquis Zhongjing Shi Ding, Yang Hongbin of the Court of Judicial Review, and Liu Jizu of the Ministry of Rites, either came to the door in person or had their families send congratulatory gifts.

All the old family relatives of the Jia family in the capital came to offer gifts to suit the occasion, and some even had the intention of planning ahead, looking favorably upon this concubine-born son of the eldest branch who was showing his prominence, probing the Jia family's attitude, and seeming to have thoughts of marriage.

And the disturbance at the gate of the Examination Hall on the day the provincial examination results were posted had not completely subsided.

Now that a censor had taken the lead in pursuing the matter, they naturally had to speak up in support; otherwise, they would truly be seen as weak and easy to bully, and there would be no need to mix in this imperial court in the future.

Disrupting the imperial birthday Grace Exam and the selection of talent, with treacherous intentions and a lack of virtue as a scholar, they should be stripped of their student status to serve as a warning to others and to clear up the academic style of scholars.

Zhou Junxing served as the official of the Court of Judicial Review and had always been good at framing and harming others, sparing no effort to clear away dissidents for the Emperor. Such a person was almost the public enemy of the court officials.

Everyone understood that the impeachment by the Censorate this time was aimed at Zhou Junxing of the Court of Judicial Review, and Shi Jian, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, was just an unlucky scapegoat—who told him to let his nephew get close to Zhou Junxing.

It was just that, usually, Zhou Junxing had the Emperor's backing, and his actions were very meticulous, so under normal circumstances, it was really impossible to catch his handle.

Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao was deeply strategic and naturally understood the tricks and schemes of the literary officials impeaching Zhou Zian and Shi Yongxin.

Thus, Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao issued an imperial decree to strip Zhou Zian and Shi Yongxin of their student status and forbade them from participating in the imperial examinations for three years.

Then how could the clear reputation of the censors of the thirteen circuits of the Censorate, who were supposed to speak on matters of state, be manifested?

It was just that the Court of Judicial Review was a sharp blade in the Emperor's hand; how could it be easily sheathed? However, Zhou Zian and Shi Yongxin had disrupted the imperial birthday Grace Exam, which was equivalent to shaving off the Emperor's face in showing filial piety, so they could not go unpunished.

On the day after the Yongzhou provincial examination results were posted, in the imperial court, the censor of the Yongzhou circuit of the Censorate impeached the scholars Zhou Zian and Shi Yongxin for using slanderous words to frame the top provincial graduate of the current exam and inciting scholars to criticize on the day the results were posted.

Therefore, even for a fierce person like Zhou Junxing, as long as they were careful, the censors were not afraid of being bitten back and killed by him.

One of them was the chief examiner of this Grace Exam, and the other was the Minister of Rites in charge of the provincial examination.

As soon as the censor's impeachment of Zhou Zian and Shi Yongxin was raised, Zheng Yan, Junior Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, and Guo Youchang, Minister of Rites, immediately stepped out of the ranks to support it.

Now that his son Zhou Zian had framed the Grace Exam top graduate, incited scholars to cause trouble, and smeared the imperial birthday Grace Exam, how could the censors, who loved to wag their tongues, miss such a big handle?

What Zhou Zian and Shi Yongxin did at the gate of the Examination Hall that day was tearing down their stage.

And the literary officials being so unanimous was nothing more than their resistance and fear of Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao restarting the Court of Judicial Review.

Moreover, there was no precedent for killing censors among the emperors of the Great Zhou dynasty.

Such detestable people were naturally the best tools for the censors of the Censorate to build their reputation.

Being convicted for one's words is the label of a foolish emperor.

That is to say, three years later, when their peers had all passed the metropolitan examination, they would still have to start over from the prefectural examination, and the road to success would be delayed for many more years.

In fact, Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao's handling of this already had the suspicion of lifting high and putting down lightly, and it was generally giving face to his own hawk, Zhou Junxing.

If it had been an ordinary scholar, they would have long been stripped of their status and never allowed to take the exam again; that would have truly ruined their entire academic and official career.

And Jia Cong's name, since his birth mother was posthumously granted a title several months ago, appeared again in the imperial court's deliberations and caused quite a stir.

The cause of the matter came from the Hanlin Academy.

Ge Hongzheng of the Hanlin Academy read that policy essay about the lack of virtue among scholars and, moved by Jia Cong's outstanding talent, submitted a memorial to have Jia Cong enter the Hanlin Academy as a Grade 7 archivist.

In fact, after passing the provincial examination and obtaining the status of a provincial graduate, Jia Cong had the qualifications to be appointed as an official and did not have to be like before, only able to serve in minor civil posts.

It was just that a Hanlin Academy archivist was not an ordinary official position. Although it was not as prestigious as a Hanlin compiler or editor, and the rank was not high, it was not a position that could be easily granted.

Because Hanlin Academy archivists were generally only granted to metropolitan graduates of the second and third ranks; Jia Cong was only a provincial graduate, so it was somewhat of an over-appointment.

However, Ge Hongzheng remonstrated, believing that Jia Cong's policy essay on the lack of virtue among scholars was a magnificent piece of writing of the current age, and for scholars to govern their studies and establish their ambitions, it could be considered an invaluable true method. Such a special talent entering the Hanlin Academy would be a perfect match.

As soon as Ge Hongzheng's memorial was proposed, the literary officials in the imperial court were all stirred in their hearts, each with their own expectations.

Although Jia Cong was born into a noble family, he studied under the literary master Liu Jingan, and his literary talent was so outstanding that it had long since overshadowed his background; he was a living, breathing embryo of a literary official.

Such a person, if brought into the literary official group early, would inevitably become a pivotal figure among literary officials ten years later.

Naturally, that would be better than him later entering the military nobility due to his background and becoming one of the few among the military nobility capable of contending with literary officials in literary matters.

Naturally, it was best for the military nobility to be vulgar people; that way, there would be much less suffering from constraints in the imperial court governed by literary officials.

However, Ge Hongzheng's proposal was rejected on the spot by Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao.

Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao just said one sentence in front of all the civil and military officials: "Sons of the nobility should cultivate a spirit of courage and martial arts."

This sentence left all the literary officials in the hall stunned; such obscure and unclear thoughts were actually seen through by the Emperor.

The Emperor actually did not approve of that Jia family son taking the path of a literary official, saying that sons of the nobility should cultivate a spirit of courage and martial arts. Such outstanding literary talent was truly a pity.

Only close ministers of Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao, such as Minister of Rites Guo Youchang, Minister of War Gu Yankui, and Marquis Zhongjing Shi Ding, heard the deep meaning of the Emperor and could not help but feel a chill in their hearts.

Jia Cong's literary talent was excessive, and he also had the practical ability of firearms strategy. Such a dual talent, if he took the path of a literary official, would have no difficulty entering the cabinet as a grand secretary.

And he also had the background and family status of a top-tier military noble. With two paths, literary and martial, he was almost the image of a powerful minister. The Emperor was worried about the trend of becoming too powerful to be controlled in the future...

No wonder the Emperor actually said that such a literary figure should cultivate a spirit of courage and martial arts and lean toward the path of military nobility. To be so wary of a teenager was too ungrateful and cold-blooded.

When the news from the imperial court reached the Jia mansion through various channels, it was just that the Grandmother and others, and even Jia Zheng, could not grasp the true meaning of the sentence "Sons of the nobility should cultivate a spirit of courage and martial arts."

Jia Zheng only thought that Brother Cong had a truly limitless future, as someone had actually proposed letting him enter the Hanlin Academy, and the Emperor's words were actually hoping that he could cultivate both literary and martial arts, which was a sign of extreme regard for Brother Cong.

Thinking of these things, Jia Zheng could not help but sigh that the Jia family had truly produced a unicorn child.

And when the Grandmother and Lady Wang heard this news, they once again concluded that Jia Cong's fate was truly too hard. Those two high-ranking officials' nephews had only said a few bad things about him at the gate of the Examination Hall and were stripped of their status by the Emperor.

In short, they had heard too much about this brat's strange affairs, and they were probably all numb to it.

Their attention recently had mostly been on matters in the inner quarters, for example, some news that had spread after the East Prefecture held a wedding.

(End of chapter)