Chapter 711: Discovering a Great Confucian Scholar!

On the fourth day of the fourth month of the third year of Hongxing of the Great Ming, inside the barbican of Nanjing's Yifeng Gate, a crowd of high officials in black gauze caps and python robes had already gathered, and a painted ceremonial archway had been erected — the kind used only to lend grandeur when receiving the lord of a frontier command, a vassal king, or a vassal state's chief minister arriving at court for an audience. According to the welcoming and send-off protocols that the Ming court had simplified as much as possible after moving the capital to Nanjing, only expedition or triumphal ceremonies were permitted to occupy the entire length of Yifeng Gate Avenue. All other comings and goings were held inside the Yifeng Gate barbican, so as not to disrupt the great commerce along Yifeng Gate Avenue.

Yifeng Gate Avenue was now a tremendous affair — the "wealthiest" avenue in the city of Nanjing — and could not be casually sealed off and closed to traffic.

Because it lay at the junction of the Longjiang harbor district, the inner city of Nanjing, and the area along the Qinhuai River, it had become the site of the head offices of the Maritime Merchants' Bank and the Salt Merchants' Bank. And around the headquarters of the two banks, a host of small banks and great money shops had naturally sprung up. Every day, the funds flowing in and out along this street exceeded one hundred thousand taels of silver; a single day's delay would cost the Ming court no small amount of tax revenue!

And although today's welcoming ceremony was set inside the Yifeng Gate barbican, its display was as lavish as possible. From early morning, a large force of officers and men of the Xiaoling Guard Imperial Army had marched over to maintain order — the Xiaoling Guard Imperial Army was the former Xiaoling Guard New Army, which had been used at the time to train imperial clansmen. Later, all the clansmen requiring concentrated training had completed it, most of them had been assigned posts, and a small portion had been "eliminated from the bottom ranks," struck from the jade genealogy, and made into commoners.

Of course, Zhu Cilang could not actually let them go begging — that would be too disgraceful. So he had pointed out one last path of survival for these former clansmen eliminated from the bottom ranks. If they truly could not make a living, then the gates of the Huangjue Temple at Fengyang north of the Yangtze would forever be open to them!

After the training of the clansmen was completed, the Xiaoling Guard New Army became the Xiaoling Guard Imperial Army, serving as the unit where Military Academy officers served as enlisted men for field training and where officers of the various new army divisions received instruction; at the same time, it was also the garrison force of the city of Nanjing.

Today the Xiaoling Guard Imperial Army had turned out a full regiment of infantry, all clad in black iron plate armor, bearing eighteen-foot pikes or Hongxing Year Three matchlocks, drawn up in neat square formations inside the Yifeng Gate barbican — an exceedingly striking sight.

As the sun gradually rose, high-ranking officials kept arriving in four-wheeled carriages made by the Shanghai Shen Works, and many scholars in Daoist robes and Confucian caps also came in a steady stream, gathering on one side of the official road inside the Yifeng Gate barbican. Soon half the barbican was packed full; looking down from the gate tower, it was truly a vast, dark, swarming mass!

The personage who could make so many of Nanjing's talented scholars rush to Yifeng Gate at the crack of dawn to welcome him was of course no frontier lord, vassal king, or vassal state's chief minister — this man could only be the candidate Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage, Kong Yinzheng, arriving in the capital for the examinations.

The Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage actually had to sit the examinations!

This rather overturned the understanding of these talented scholars — they, who were supposed to advance by examination, now had no examinations to take, while the Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage, who ought to have obtained his title by being born into the right family, had to pass an examination... the whole thing was simply absurd!

Fortunately, freedom of speech in the Great Ming was still relatively broad at present; at least scholars out of office and in the countryside could voice their opinions rather freely — there was no longer any degree to be stripped, scholars no longer enjoyed tax and corvée exemptions, and the official fields and military fields their families had privately occupied were gone as well. Apart from throwing them in prison, Emperor Zhu had no real hold over them. So a bunch of scholars who wanted to take examinations but could not began to voice their opinions recklessly.

"Strange things happen every year, but this year they're especially plentiful! Even the Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage has to take an examination now. What if he fails? Will they just do away with the Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage?"

"What nonsense are you talking? How could the Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage be done away with? If this one fails, they'll just swap in another to take the examination. There are so many descendants of the Sage — someone is bound to pass!"

"Really? From now on the Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage has to pass an examination to hold the title?"

"That's right! Not only must he take an examination, but His Majesty must also issue an edict of investiture... From now on, in every generation, the Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage cannot rely on being born into the right family alone. They must select from among the Sage's descendants a man well-versed in the Six Arts and the learning of the Sage, loyal to the sovereign and devoted to the country, filial, brave, benevolent, and righteous, who passes selection and examination level by level, and is finally invested by the Son of Heaven before he can assume the title of Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage. It is said he can also concurrently hold some sort of Grand Secretary post!"

"Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage concurrently Grand Secretary? What's that about? Isn't Grand Secretary a post only cabinet elders can hold?"

"The rules are going to change now. The Grand Secretariat will be the Grand Secretariat, and the Grand Secretary Academy will be the Grand Secretary Academy... The Grand Secretariat manages court administration; the Grand Secretary Academy manages scholarship. Two separate matters."

"Is that true?"

"Of course it's true... Just wait. Once someone passes the examination and becomes Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage, the court will start tinkering with the Grand Secretaries!"

"Ah, isn't that just the way — endless tinkering..."

Just as the scholars were buzzing with discussion, the officers and men of the regiment of the Xiaoling Guard Imperial Army drawn up in square formation opposite them suddenly let out an earth-shaking shout in unison.

"The candidate Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage has arrived!"

The party of the candidate Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage, Kong Yinzheng, had already reached the outside of Yifeng Gate!

The scholars who had just been debating with one another all fell silent, craning their necks to look, eager to see what sort of august figure the candidate Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage, come to the capital for the examinations, would cut.

One look, and their eyes were truly opened wide!

The first to enter through the outer gate passage of the Yifeng Gate barbican was not the Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage, but a company of "Kong Martial Guards" — thirty-five men in all, all of them tall, strapping Shandong fellows, drawn up in two columns, every man armored and shouldering a gun — not a spear, but a Hongxing Year Three matchlock, with a gleaming bayonet fixed at the muzzle.

Behind this company of Kong Martial Guards came an even taller, sturdier fellow, wearing full-length armor, a treasured sword hanging from his belt, and over his shoulder a long dagger-axe a full eighteen feet in length!

The head of the long dagger-axe was wrapped in hemp cloth, which looked very refined — at a glance one could tell it was a weapon reserved for some great general!

The watching scholars were stunned. Was today really a welcome for the candidate Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage?

Could there be some mistake? Wasn't this some frontier lord arriving at court for an audience?

Just as they were wondering, another fully armored rider came in, bold and high-spirited, urging his horse forward. The rider was also very tall and large; mounted, he looked like a moving iron tower. As he drew nearer, everyone saw that this rider had a dark face and a curly beard, and carried a bow and arrows and an ancient-styled long sword — a most imposing sight.

Behind this rider, a stout fellow held aloft a great banner, on which were six large characters: "Descendant of the Most Sage First Teacher."

What? It really was the candidate Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage?

How had the Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage come to look like this? Was he going out to hack people up or to spread enlightenment?

This was an insult to refinement!

Kong Yinzheng actually felt that his own appearance was somewhat inappropriate too — he looked ready to hack people up, and he had brought seventy-two disciples with him: thirty-five in front carrying matchlocks, thirty-five behind carrying eighteen-foot dagger-axes, plus one carrying the dagger-axe for Kong Yinzheng and one holding the banner aloft for him.

He wondered whether the Most Sage First Teacher of old had looked like this when he traveled through the various states.

But appropriate or not, Kong Yinzheng could only grit his teeth and carry the act through to the end.

How had Kong Yinzhi died?

Kong Yinzheng had no desire to sample that inferior red-crested crane poison, and moreover, he still wanted to become the Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage!

And the only person who could make him Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage at present was the Hongxing Emperor of the Great Ming alone — so what reason did he have not to dress himself up exactly as Emperor Zhu had instructed?

Perhaps the Most Sage First Teacher of history really had looked like this!

Kong Yinzheng had already ridden up before the officials who had come to welcome him, dismounted with practiced ease, then strode forward and saluted the several high officials with clasped hands: "Kong Yinzheng pays his respects!"

His voice was extraordinarily loud, like a thunderclap, startling Qian Qianyi, Zhu Zhiyu, Wang Prefect, Huang Daozhou, and the others who had come to welcome him, and they all furrowed their brows in unison.

What on earth was the Emperor scheming? How had he chosen a Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage like this?