Chapter 134: 134. Chapter 133: Remonstrating with the Emperor, Reading a Hundred Times

134. Chapter 133: Remonstrating with the Emperor, Reading a Hundred Times

Kneeling at the gate!?

Not to mention Gu Xiancheng, even Li Kun, who was not familiar with officialdom, couldn't help but show shock.

This is not as simple as kneeling outside the palace gate to submit a memorial.

Kneeling at the gate represents disagreement with the Emperor and the cabinet's resolution!

It is a struggle between those above and those below!

Gu Xiancheng was shocked: "Xiong Dunpu?"

Li Sancai put down the hand he had placed on the shoulders of the two and shook his head: "I don't know the specifics either, I only heard from Rushi and Zidao that there were some grievances."

"They submitted memorials to Zhang Jiangling several times to plead for grievances, but the results were all like stones sinking into the sea, so they had to resort to this last resort."

Rushi is the courtesy name of Zhao Yongxian, and Zidao is the courtesy name of Wu Zhonghang; both were Shujishi of the fifth year of Longqing.

They were also heroes of Nanzhili.

Similarly, they were also good brothers who successively impeached Zhang Juzheng in history, and were subsequently punished with the rod and dismissed from office.

Seeing Li Sancai's vague words, Gu Xiancheng also understood that there were outsiders present, so it was not easy to talk in detail.

He had to suppress his thoughts and wait to ask later.

Li Kun still had an ignorant expression, following the two into the manor.

Inside the manor, stone bridges, rockeries, pavilions, and waterside pavilions were elegant, truly a good place for scholars to gather.

The three talked about idle matters all the way.

Gu Xiancheng chatted about old times casually.

Li Sancai occasionally tested Li Kun's learning.

Li Kun was standard and stopped when it was appropriate.

"Shushi, Brother Lu's learning is truly deeper than yours by more than a notch; in my opinion, in this examination, you should be a foil for the two of us."

Li Sancai mediated the atmosphere in the middle, clapping his hands and laughing.

When there are many people, mentioning the majority as much as possible almost became Li Sancai's instinct.

Which people to praise, which people to mock, he could do it with ease.

Gu Xiancheng naturally didn't refute, but spread his hands: "I passed the examination this year and was at the end of the list, naturally I can't compare with the two quasi-jinshi."

"Just let me familiarize myself with the examination hall, wait three years, and then come to follow the footsteps of the two."

Hearing this, Li Kun couldn't help but smile bitterly, begging for mercy: "I am almost a forty-year-old Mingjing, why are you still teasing me."

After speaking, he waved his hands repeatedly.

The three couldn't help but reveal smiles in unison.

Making a joke, the atmosphere became a little more lively.

Li Sancai threw out a topic that every scholar cared about: "Do you two know that last month, Supervising Secretary of the Ministry of Rites Zhu Nanyong submitted a memorial, stating the essentials of the examination affairs."

As soon as these words fell, the two looked at Li Sancai with serious expressions.

Li Kun was particularly serious—didn't he follow to eat this meal just to hear this kind of pre-examination information?

Li Sancai didn't sell it short, saying directly: "During the Longqing years, Gao Yi of the Ministry of Rites, because the writing was floating and flowery, submitted a memorial to the late Emperor, setting a standard of around six hundred words."

"However, after these two examinations, scholars have again sought brevity, striving for hooks and thorns, and the craftsmanship is too excessive."

"Therefore, Zhu Nanyong of the Ministry of Rites submitted a memorial, requesting His Majesty to abolish the word limit."

Li Kun and Gu Xiancheng looked at each other.

This is not a small matter; an article of six hundred words and an article without a word limit have completely different structures and techniques.

If they prepared according to the previous six hundred words, it would be going south by driving north.

Why do scholars come to the capital in advance to prepare for the examination? Isn't it because of this kind of thing?

If they waited for the imperial edict in the local area and then prepared for the examination, wouldn't they waste two months in vain?

Li Kun asked: "Is this approved?"

Hearing this, Li Sancai couldn't help but praise: "Otherwise, why say that Gao Yi of Nanyu is a steady elder."

"He raised the proposal himself, and when someone wanted to overthrow it, he not only didn't interfere, but even during the court deliberation, he admitted to His Majesty that his previous consideration was inadequate."

"Now it has been changed to a limit of fifteen hundred words."

Hearing this, Gu Xiancheng couldn't help but be overjoyed.

The more words, the more skills he could show off, especially for a scholar like him who combined the techniques of various schools and was not specialized in hooks and thorns, it was even better news.

"Besides this, His Majesty's golden words said: 'Focus on clear writing, prioritize fitting current affairs, and value substance.'"

Li Kun raised his eyebrows and subconsciously took a breath.

Gu Xiancheng had an even greater reaction; he suddenly clapped his hands and let out a strange cry: "Good!"

The two were startled by the sudden, strange cry.

Gu Xiancheng hurriedly apologized, but his mouth was hateful: "The style of the Yangming school should have been killed long ago!"

Li Kun was puzzled.

This Gu Xiancheng, didn't he say on the road that he studied under Zhang Qi and also studied Heart Learning?

Why is he shouting and killing?

Li Sancai on the side kindly explained: "Shushi studied under Zhang Gong before the age of twenty, and after the age of twenty, he studied under Xue Yingqi, Xue Gong."

Li Kun was enlightened.

This is not strange.

Xue Yingqi is a famous Confucian of the current era, a figure expected to be squeezed into the Hangzhou Sage Shrine and worshiped alongside Bai Juyi and Su Shi.

Among the Confucian forest, especially in Nanzhili and Zhejiang, his reputation is prominent.

Although he belongs to the Nanzhong Wang school and is also Heart Learning, he suddenly turned to the learning of Cheng and Zhu more than ten years ago.

Now he is a Confucian who opposes empty talk about conscience and advocates pragmatism.

Gu Xiancheng studied under this person and was inevitably influenced.

However, Gu Xiancheng shook his head: "It has nothing to do with the theory, it's just that I can't stand this world where the style of the world is declining and the hearts of the people are not ancient."

Since the Great Rites Controversy, the scholar-officials have gradually become withered and uninspired.

Above.

Emperor Shizong was greedy and boundless, Emperor Muzong was lazy in government, and now Zhang Juzheng is power-hungry and oppresses the master; from childhood to now, Gu Xiancheng has felt that the officials and scholars coming and going in his family are becoming more and more dull, oppressive, negative, and depressed.

After Yan Song, Gao Gong, and Zhang Juzheng entered the cabinet, the matters of clinging to the Chief Grand Secretary and forming cliques for private interests became more serious from one dynasty to the next, and the entire officialdom was filled with a corrupt and decadent atmosphere.

Below.

Wang Shouren, the sage, could not escape the fate of being annotated by the Six Classics, and his theory gradually evolved into a state of unbridled indulgence.

Since the Jiajing era, a crooked wind of advocating extravagance and doing whatever one wants, the so-called "rate of true freedom," has constantly overstepped moral ethics.

Just as he said a few years ago—"Today, the world is surging, and everything is done with eyes and ears; the customs of scholars are declining, and etiquette, righteousness, integrity, and shame are about to be exhausted. Every time the three of us talk about it, we sigh or cry."

At such a time, if no one defends the way, where is the heavenly principle!?

Therefore, praising the Emperor has nothing to do with his own Heart Learning or Principle Learning.

He is just praising the act of promoting the right learning and correcting the customs of the world.

If you ask him, this degree is not enough.

Wait until he passes the jinshi examination and steps into officialdom, sooner or later he will clarify the administration and beautify the customs!

At that time, court officials will no longer need to cling to the Chief Grand Secretary, speak freely, and will not be punished for their words.

Scholar students will no longer be unbridled and hang benevolence, righteousness, and morality on their lips all day long.

That is the gathering of sages in the fields and the fullness of the court.

However, with Li Kun present, to avoid deep talk with shallow acquaintance, Gu Xiancheng only stopped at the point.

Li Sancai never let things cool down and took over Gu Xiancheng's words lightly: "This Emperor today really has a virtue of beautifying customs."

Gu Xiancheng turned his head curiously: "Oh?"

Li Sancai smiled: "The Emperor not only demoted that fellow Li Zaiting to Fujian to be an official, but also recruited Wang Shizhen of Yanzhou to accompany him."

Although Li Zaiting is a seventh-rank official wearing red robes.

But noble officials are different from local officials.

The so-called "Supervising Secretary of the Six Ministries is promoted, internally to the fourth-rank court, externally to the third-rank Administration Assistant. The external transfer from the regular seventh rank to the junior third rank is also a special honor of officialdom, but people often despise it. Because there is a saying that 'official promotion by seven ranks, power reduced by ten thousand points'."

Being promoted to a local post is considered shameful.

Complaining about the reduction of power by ten thousand points is fine, and there are even those who are angry, thus spreading posters and insulting the Ministry of Personnel.

Not to mention that it is the Ministry of Personnel—"Only the Ministry of Personnel is promoted to the court," is not a joke.

Hearing this, Gu Xiancheng laughed loudly: "This sycophant, well demoted!"

Li Zaiting's image among these scholars is no different from Yan Song's.

Demotion? Execution is best!

After venting a sentence, Gu Xiancheng immediately converged his expression and asked: "Is Yanzhou Gong entering the capital? Then in the capital in the future, won't there be literary gatherings often?"

Wang Shizhen's literary gathering is very important.

It is the second best way for scholars to become famous today.

As for the first one.

It is to submit articles to Wang Shizhen and let him annotate them, so that the world will know immediately—Wang Xijue often wrote articles to Wang Shizhen, praising his nephews and brothers to help them become famous.

Not to mention that Wang Shizhen himself is also the object of admiration for scholars in the world.

Gu Xiancheng immediately threw the second Yan Song behind his head and asked about Wang Shizhen.

Li Sancai nodded: "There is, but Yanzhou Gong said, to prevent delaying the examination industry of scholars, he is preparing to brew for a while, and after the spring examination, he will invite scholars from all over the world to open a big literary gathering."

A grand event!

Hearing this, Gu Xiancheng immediately thought of the scene where he would suppress the heroes and be the center of attention.

He couldn't help but be excited.

Muttering: "That's good, now there are scholars who haven't entered the capital. One day after the spring examination, scholars from all over the world will gather in the capital, waiting for the list to be released, and I fear that most of them will go to participate in the grand event."

Li Sancai also nodded with longing.

Worthy of being Yanzhou Gong, the number one person in the world to form a society, even holding a literary gathering will pick such a good time.

Scholars gather from all over the world, that is true fame!

This time I must ask for experience, so that I can make the society flourish in the future!

Li Kun was lost in thought on the side.

Literary gathering... when did it become better the more people there are?

In the past, weren't these special sessions for children from famous families? When did they look at these old scholars?

The more Li Kun thought, the more he felt something was wrong.

However, he didn't come to gossip this time, so he still brought up more important things: "I don't know how many scholars can stay in the capital in this subject."

The number of each subject is not certain, and now it is the first subject after the new Emperor ascended the throne, so maybe there will be more quotas.

This is a disguised way of asking Li Sancai.

Li Sancai heard this and couldn't help but smile: "The first subject of the dragon flight, there is naturally a move to expand the quota, the Ministry of Rites has already……"

The three of you said a word and I said a word.

Gradually walked away.

Only the stone bridge and rockery remained motionless, and the flowers and trees swayed in the wind.

……

At this moment, inside and outside the Wenhua Hall, it was already a place where the eyes of the hundred officials gathered.

Kneeling at the gate!?

The last time was when Gao Gong and Feng Bao fought, and Zhang Shouyou knelt and submitted a memorial outside the Wumen.

Now Zhang Shouyou is still recuperating in Daozhou.

I heard that Zhang Shouyou writes poems all day, sighing that his official career is not smooth.

This time, more than ten Shujishi and Hanlin knelt at the gate of the Wenhua Hall, the incident happened suddenly, and the court officials didn't know what it was for.

They all pretended to pass by, wanting to see what was going on.

On the open space outside the Wenhua Hall.

Zhao Yongxian, Wu Zhonghang, and others had been kneeling for an hour.

The Emperor and the cabinet remained indifferent.

Even after the court deliberation ended, they didn't see the Emperor and the cabinet come out to deal with it.

The most abnormal thing was that, not to mention sending an inner court official to persuade, there should have been Embroidered Uniform Guards coming out to drive them away, right?

As a result, there was no persuasion, and not even a rod punishment.

Only a group of people knelt outside the Wenhua Hall with their hearts hanging in the air.

Zhao Yongxian had been in the posture of touching the ground with his forehead for an hour; his legs were fine, but his waist was not very comfortable.

A cold wind blew, and he felt cold.

The voice of Wu Zhonghang beside him entered his ears.

"The court deliberation has been over for a while, why haven't we seen His Majesty come out?"

They had been kneeling here before the court deliberation, just to make a big deal out of it.

Logically speaking, whether it was the Emperor or the cabinet, they should deal with it as soon as possible to eliminate the influence.

Zhao Yongxian buried his head, his body half-moved, and said in a low voice: "I suspect that His Majesty doesn't know about this, and now he is either understanding the inside story or is furious and discussing countermeasures."

Outsiders aside, they, who came out of the Hanlin Academy, knew the Emperor more or less.

For this kind of thing, the Emperor would definitely ask about it.

At the same time, he also had the prestige to bypass the cabinet and meet them.

This was also the reason why they chose to kneel at the gate of the Wenhua Hall.

Wu Zhonghang sighed: "Right and wrong are clear at a glance; since the Chief Grand Secretary is headstrong and deceives the holy hearing, we have no choice but to resort to this last resort in order to let His Majesty set things right."

"After all, Xiong Dunpu suffered grievances for no reason, how innocent is he?"

Some things, once they enter the process, are very difficult to correct themselves.

Asking superiors to admit mistakes is harder than ascending to heaven.

But since Zhang Juzheng did this, don't blame them for making a big deal out of it, letting His Majesty and the court officials judge.

Of course, whether Zhang Juzheng was also deceived was not in their consideration—it must be intentional!

The two knelt on the ground, touching the ground with their foreheads, whispering.

Zhao Yongxian's tone was firm: "No matter what, today we must seek justice for Xiong Dunpu."

Wu Zhonghang moved his waist and muttered: "Fortunately, I wore knee pads; kneeling for a day is not a problem."

"It's just cold."

As soon as he finished speaking, a cold wind blew.

The two shivered in unison.

Zhao Yongxian was about to speak.

Just at this time.

A sound of footsteps sounded in the ears of the two.

When they identified that it was stepping down from the Wenhua Hall, both couldn't help but reveal joy.

The Emperor finally couldn't help it!

This heaven-sent opportunity is just right to give Zhang Juzheng some color.

Just thinking this way.

"Gentlemen, Shujishi, Hanlin, I have come according to His Majesty's meaning."

Zhao Yongxian, Wu Zhonghang, and even the more than ten Shujishi and Hanlin behind them, all raised their heads slightly.

Sneaking a glance, when they saw only a few feet dressed as eunuchs, everyone frowned.

The Emperor didn't show up, wanting to send a eunuch to dismiss them?

Li Jin saw that everyone was eager to move, and hurriedly reached out to press: "Gentlemen, you don't need to get up."

He smiled: "His Majesty said that he still has to have a classic lecture, and his studies are important, so he has no time to listen to your grievances."

"Gentlemen, wait a while; after His Majesty finishes class, he will naturally summon you."

After speaking, he waved his hand.

The little eunuchs behind him each draped the cloaks in their hands over the several Shujishi and Hanlin one by one.

Zhao Yongxian and Wu Zhonghang were startled.

In unison, they said in astonishment: "Eunuch Li……"

Li Jin interrupted the two.

Smiling: "It's cold today, gentlemen, you must take care of your bodies; kneeling at the gate for so long, I fear your hands and feet are already cold."

"His Majesty pities his ministers, so he specially asked me to add clothes for you."

Zhao Yongxian and Wu Zhonghang looked at each other, their eyes full of unexpected shock.

……

Wenhua Hall, during the classic lecture.

The classic lecture was the autumn lecture opened in the eighth month, originally said to be exempted until the second day of the tenth month.

But because the cabinet was too busy, several classes were stopped, so it was postponed for half a month.

At this time, the Emperor himself, who was being knelt at the gate, was neither furious nor hesitant.

Even the hall did not discuss the kneeling outside, but was seriously attending class.

Zhu Yijun sat upright, listening to the training.

"The reason why the sages of old, when facing the difficulties of the situation and the changes in human relations, had a reasonable way to deal with them. It can be seen that serving parents is the most important thing for inheriting the ancestral temple, and serving them is small, so the ancestral temple must have support, and the master of sacrifice must be a suitable person, so that the spirit of the ancestors can be comforted and the heart and will of the parents can be pleased. Those who govern the world with filial piety should promote it."

Zhang Juzheng looked stern, looking at the Emperor seriously, word by word.

The daily lecturer took notes and placed them in front of the little Emperor.

The little Emperor looked at the notes while listening carefully.

Occasionally drawing inferences from one instance: "Teacher, I understand."

"For example, Emperor Yao married his two daughters to Shun, and Shun immediately obeyed Yao's order, but did not go back to discuss it with his parents."

"Shun did this because he was afraid that if he told his parents, they would not agree, so he could not marry, eventually leading to no descendants."

"Telling parents before marrying is to obey the parents' wishes, not daring to decide on one's own, which is the basic requirement of etiquette. Not telling parents before marrying is to ensure the continuation of clan sacrifice, so as not to have no descendants."

"Shun is the flexible application of filial piety, and it is also Shun's promotion!"

"No wonder the sages all say that the filial piety of ancient and modern emperors is nothing more than Shun!"

Tao Dalin looked at this teacher and student, teaching and listening as if nothing had happened, and couldn't help but admire.

The Chief Grand Secretary was fine, but he didn't expect the Emperor to have this kind of calm heart.

He looked at the outside of the Wenhua Hall without a trace.

Such a big thing as kneeling at the gate, inside it was as if it hadn't happened.

Kneeling at the gate for an hour, right?

If they knew that the Emperor was still seriously studying, I don't know if they would be comforted or angry?

After the Emperor drew inferences from one instance, the ministers praised him one after another.

Tao Dalin came back to his senses and hurriedly praised him perfunctorily—after getting used to praising, everyone now praises formulaically.

Zhang Juzheng's expression was even more subtle.

Just nodded seriously, and even warned the Emperor to be cautious and not arrogant, to be steady, and not to be impetuous, and so on.

Zhu Yijun was used to Zhang Juzheng's cruelty and more or less understood how his predecessor became so rebellious.

Worthy of being a Chinese-style parent.

He smiled and nodded, opening his mouth: "Teacher, I understand this word of Mencius."

"However, I have other doubts."

As soon as these words fell.

Tao Dalin retreated quietly.

Here it comes again.

Now the two in the cabinet take turns on duty, taking time out of their busy schedules to give the Emperor lessons.

Just because since the Emperor's learning has improved day by day, his doubts can no longer be easily answered by the daily lecturer—the questions are too deep, and they involve the foundation of Confucianism and the lifeline of the country.

This is why the cabinet is too busy and the classic lecture has to be postponed.

Without Zhang Juzheng or Gao Yi, outsiders are not qualified to answer.

Zhang Juzheng is even more tormented and has deep realization.

He rarely revealed a reluctant expression, his face twitched, and he said dryly: "Your Majesty, please speak."

Zhu Yijun first stood up and saluted Zhang Juzheng.

And then respectfully said: "Teacher, you just said that those who govern the world with filial piety should promote it."

The monarch who governs the world with filial piety should practice it personally and promote filial piety.

Zhu Yijun paused and asked curiously: "May I ask teacher, does our dynasty also govern the world with filial piety?"

The content of the classic lecture, Zhang Juzheng's words, generally use the "Four Books Direct Explanation," Gao Yi's uses the "Gao Wenduan Literary Collection," the male lead has some I wrote, some I patched, so I won't explain the citations one by one. ===== CHAPTER 135 =====