Zhao Wenhua was staring blankly at the retreating figure of Master Kuchan, feeling very broken in his heart.
Is this the end? Two of the three mountains I carefully prepared fell down? Not only did it fail to make Xiao Feng disgraced and suffer broken bones and tendons, judging from the reaction of the audience, it also increased his popularity a lot!
Look at the virtuous behavior of the Minister of Rites. He stretches his neck and stares. Why are you so excited when people talk about Tao? Shame on, shame on you!
Zhao Wenhua has never seen the short films of later generations. In fact, if he had seen it, he would know that sometimes watching others compete is more enjoyable than going into battle himself.
After all, the Minister of Rites knows that he does not have the lasting fighting power of Xiao Feng and Ku Chan. If he goes into battle, he may be defeated in a few minutes. How can this kind of enjoyment last for several hours?
Xiao Feng shouted twice more, and Zhao Wenhua came back to his senses and smiled at Xiao Feng in embarrassment.
"Your Majesty, you are serious. I don't have anyone for you to see. But before your Majesty came, the Jiangnan scholars had already come to see you. They said they had been admiring you for a long time and asked to see you.
Your Excellency knows that since Chengzu moved the capital, he has always treated Jiangnan scholars with great courtesy. Your Excellency came here on behalf of the imperial court, and I thought it would be a good idea to meet them. "
Xiao Feng smiled faintly: "Since Mr. Zhao thinks it's time to meet, let's meet him. However, there are too many Jiangnan scholars. I'm afraid I won't be able to meet them all."
Zhao Wenhua was afraid that Xiao Feng would find an excuse to retreat, so he quickly said: "My lord, there is no need to worry. I know that my lord is busy with official duties, and I have already told those scholars.
Let them recommend the three most knowledgeable and convincing people as representatives. Your Excellency, just meet them. Look, they are coming! "
Like a third-rate variety show host, Zhao Wenhua stretched out his finger very dramatically, full of a performance style that combined Stanislavsky and postmodernism.
Two scholars, one a scholar, squeezed out from the crowd of spectators, walked into the hall calmly, and bowed to Xiao Feng.
Xiao Feng stood up, walked to the back of the gongan, sat down grandly, and kicked the chair that Zhao Wenhua was leaning too close to in disgust, causing Zhao Wenhua to stagger and move away from the gongan.
The officials and the people looked at each other in confusion, wondering why Xiao Feng was so approachable when facing Monk Kuchan and did not show his identity, but suddenly became angry when facing these three scholars.
The leader's face changed slightly and he sneered: "Your Majesty, you have such great official power! The three of us came here to pay homage to Your Excellency. Why is Your Excellency so arrogant and rude?"
Xiao Feng raised his eyelids and looked at Juren: "Why am I so arrogant and rude? Master Zhao reminded me again and again that I am here to receive you on behalf of the imperial court.
I would also like to treat the monk as a private person, but Mr. Zhao doesn't allow it. If you want to blame, you should blame Mr. Zhao, right? "
Zhao Wenhua took a breath of cold air, this pot came too suddenly! He quickly expressed his stance to avoid getting himself into trouble and burned the back of his head by eating sugar cookies.
"My lord, I am just suggesting. It is just a suggestion. Your lord is approachable, and a courteous corporal should be more polite."
Xiao Feng smiled faintly: "Okay, you three want to see me, what are you doing? I'm busy with my affairs, so let's not go around in circles."
The three of them looked at each other, and it was still the same person who held up his hand. Obviously, as a person who had successfully been promoted to the official level, he was the leader of the entire team.
"Sir, this time the imperial court is opening an encore, the number of scholars from the north and the south is almost the same. We, the scholars from the south of the Yangtze River, are not convinced!"
Xiao Feng looked at him calmly: "What's wrong with you?"
"The land south of the Yangtze River is home to a rich collection of humanities and talented people since ancient times. The land to the north has strong folk customs and a strong fighting spirit.
If it were a competition in martial arts, it would be acceptable for the North to have an advantage. But in the literary and civil examinations, how could the North be evenly matched with the South? It was clear that there were private disadvantages involved! "
So that’s it, Zhao Wenhua’s move is to make me take the blame for the unfair college entrance examination of the entire Ming Dynasty Lao Zhu family!
This matter can be traced back to the victory of the old Zhu family. The first imperial examination organized by Zhu Yuanzhang after he ascended the throne caused a huge disaster.
I don’t know if God is playing tricks on Lao Zhu, or if it’s true
It was because of the war at that time that the learning environment in the north was worse than in the south. An incredible coincidence happened in that session. The fifty-one candidates who won the exam were all southern scholars!
If this coincidence is put to the present, what level of phenomenon would it be equivalent to?
You can imagine that in the college entrance examination of a certain year, no, it was the college entrance examination for three consecutive years. The top ten universities in the country, represented by Tsinghua University and Peking University, all recruited southerners! ap.
Strictly speaking, the college entrance examination may not be enough for comparison. It should be the civil service admissions examination for three consecutive years. Those who take the exam are all southerners!
You can imagine the anger of the northern scholars at that time. They must have beaten their chests, tore up books and burned pens. Then in their fury, they discovered another nonsense phenomenon.
The chief examiner Liu Sanwu and the deputy examiner Bai Xintiao who presided over this session of the examination are also from the south!
Then some northern scholars with more imagination suddenly proposed: Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang was from Fengyang, Anhui, and he was also an out-and-out southerner!
The anger of the northern scholars reached its peak in an instant. Regardless of their lives, they attacked the police station and ran to the gate of the Ministry of Rites, the natal home of the scholars at that time, to complain, accusing the examiner of fraud and the court being unfair!
And this angry flame also ignited the northern officials in the court. They are even more sensitive than the scholars, because in the court, fellow villagers are a very valuable political asset!
Those southerners couldn't deal with us, so they went to deal with our descendants, hoping to cut us off from the Ming Dynasty's political lineage! Then they can bully us politically poor people!
As a result, the so-called imperial examination fraud case suddenly became a life-and-death political struggle, seriously threatening the newly established Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Yuanzhang also became popular and immediately set up an investigation team to investigate the case of imperial examination fraud.
He originally thought that based on the probability, there must be something wrong with this result. Even if the examiner Liu Sanwu was highly respected, there would be no problem. Maybe someone else had done something small.
Unexpectedly, after an investigation, the investigation team produced a large amount of evidence to prove that the entire examination process was open, fair and without problems.
Some people even privately speculated that it was Zhu Yuanzhang who had just launched the Blue Jade Case and killed many northern officials, causing the truly learned northern scholars to be unwilling to take the exam!
But such a result was unacceptable to Zhu Yuanzhang, let alone northern scholars and officials. What's going on? Investigation after investigation, the responsibility is actually mine?
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang directly announced that there was indeed fraud in this imperial examination. Not only was there fraud, but the fraud was just to vent his anger on Lan Yu's case.
This crime was certain, and the entire examination group was in catastrophe. Except for Liu Sanwu, who was sentenced to exile because of his high moral character and reputation, almost everyone else was killed by Zhu Yuanzhang.
Then Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the results of this imperial examination, organized another examination, and admitted more northern scholars. Only then did this incredible scientific examination fraud case be put to rest.
In this case, the mainstream voices in the history field have always believed that the examiners were unjustly accused and were pushed out by Lao Zhu to stabilize the court situation.
But in the past dynasties, few people have complained on behalf of these people, because there is a profound truth here: when something happens to be an incredible coincidence, the person who was wronged by the coincidence will seem less wronged.
For example, when you suddenly come home from a business trip, you happen to see Mr. Wang next door taking a shower in your bathroom, wearing only a pair of underwear.
Lao Wang told you again and again that he was really hired by your wife to help clear the sewer. Because he was afraid of getting his clothes dirty, he took off his clothes outside.
I also had to take a shower because I was covered in dirt from the sewer. Now the question is, do you believe it or not?
Lao Wang may really be unjust. Your wife can prove it, and even the hair taken out of the sewer can prove it, but can you believe it?
Since then, the Ming Dynasty's imperial examinations have been divided into northern and southern rankings, and there is no need to compete with each other. The court has set the ratio, and you only need to compete with those in the same region.
After Zhu Yuanzhang stabilized the situation, he also felt a little embarrassed to kill Lao Wang next door. Considering that the average cultural level in the South was indeed relatively high at that time, the proportion was also biased
Towards the south.
The ratio was about 40 to 60, with four in the north and six in the south. Scholars and officials in the south and north could accept it, and the imperial examination entered a period of peaceful competition.
But this time Jiajing opened the enke. Firstly, the Tatars besieged the city, and the number of southern scholars who came to participate was indeed small. Secondly, everyone knew that this enke was organized by Jiajing in memory of Xiao Feng, and Xiao Feng was a true northerner. people.
Therefore, the examiner fine-tuned the ratio during the admission process and admitted scholars from the north and the south at a ratio of five to five. At this time, these three southern scholars were angry and asked Xiao Feng why the court broke the rules!
Only then did Xiao Feng understand Zhao Wenhua's sinister intentions of always emphasizing that he represented the imperial court.
If he keeps silent or talks about him indifferently, it will be equivalent to acquiescence in front of the people of Jiangnan that the imperial court has bullied the south this time.
If he opens his mouth to explain, no matter how many objective reasons he explains, the southern scholars will have one sentence waiting for him: "When all fifty-one of us were listed on the list, why didn't you say it was objective reasons?"
Xiao Feng sighed and suddenly turned back to look at the Minister of Rites: "Sir, this is a matter that the Ministry of Rites should take care of. What do you think of this matter?"
The Minister of Rites was so excited that sweat broke out on his face. He smiled bitterly and bowed to Xiao Feng: "Sir, please don't joke. I am in Nanjing. Now that the imperial examinations are all under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Rites in the capital, I really have nothing to say."
Xiao Feng also knew that the Minister of Rites would never take the blame at this time. By asking this question, he also told the Minister of Rites that I am taking the blame for you, and you know something about it!
"Three scholars, Enke is not a regular scientific examination. It was increased due to times and events. The proportion set by the court at the beginning did not clearly state that Enke was included."
"Sir, Enko has always been in this proportion. How do you explain this?"
Xiao Feng smiled: "Oh? It has always been like this, is it a rule? It can only be called a custom, or a routine practice, which is different from the rules."
Juren was unconvinced and said, "What's the difference? Please tell me clearly!"
"You are a juren. Let me ask you, can a juren become an official?"
"Of course you can. As long as the imperial court is short of scholars and there are vacancies in official positions, you can appoint people as officials!"
"Then let me ask you, if you promote someone to become an official, can you become a minister?"
"This... there is no rule that says it can't be done, it just comes naturally."
"Let me ask you again, since the founding of the People's Republic of China, has anyone been promoted to minister?"
"..."
Everyone was speechless. It is actually difficult to promote people to become officials. Even if the court is really short of people, it will only use trivial officials to promote people.
Generally speaking, when someone is promoted to an official position, he or she is just a county magistrate. Those who can be promoted to the prefect level are considered successful. There are very few people above the prefect level, let alone ministers!
If Xiao Feng had delayed asking for a few more decades, Juren could still give an example, that is Hai Rui and Haigangfeng, who was appointed as an official and became the censor of Youdu in Nanjing, barely reaching the level of minister.
So at this time, Juren really couldn't cite a single example and could only shake his head helplessly.
Xiao Feng said with a smile: "Since no one has ever been a minister, can we think that it is a rule of the court that no one can be a minister?"
"This...this shouldn't be possible."
"Then Enke has been recruiting tributes according to the ratio of regular subjects. Can it be considered that Enke must follow the ratio of regular subjects? It is the rule of the court?"
"...No, we can't."
"Then you accused the court of breaking the rules. What rules did you break?"
There was sweat on everyone's head and he was hesitating. Seeing that the shot was not fired, the taller of the two scholars behind him stepped forward and saluted.
"Sir, even if the court did not break the rules, from a regular perspective, the court recognized that the scholars from the south were more knowledgeable than the scholars from the north.
Why do you think that as soon as you arrive in Enko, the northern scholars are evenly matched with the southern scholars? Don’t talk about rules, just talk about common sense. Adults have to be reasonable, right? "
Juren wiped the sweat from his head and glanced at his wingman with relief. young man
If you have a future, you will definitely pass the examination!
Zhao Wenhua also felt a little relieved from his anxiety. This was his last big mountain. He didn't expect that the person he had high hopes for would be killed by Xiao Feng in just a few words.
Seeing that this tall scholar's words are sharp and well-founded, he might be able to surprise himself! What's more, this tall Jinshi has a long face and light eyebrows, and he has the demeanor of a godfather. He should not be underestimated!
Xiao Feng looked at the tall scholar and said calmly: "Who told you that the ratio set by the court was because the scholars from the south were slightly better than the scholars from the north?"
The tall scholar was stunned and was a little speechless, because almost no one had ever questioned this matter. The court didn't think so, so why did it do this?
"My lord asked, it is self-evident. If the court does not think so, why did it set this rule?"
"You mean that the imperial court's rule of four in the north and six in the south must be based on the fact that the scholars in the north are not as knowledgeable as the scholars in the south, is that right?"
"This is natural!"
"Have you ever had a wife?"
Um? what's the situation? What kind of magical idea is this? We were talking about the imperial examination admission ratio, but why did it involve me not having a wife?
But Xiao Feng was a high official, and the tall scholar didn't want Xiao Feng to have a chance to breathe, so he had to answer first according to Xiao Feng's words.
"The student has not yet married."
"Have you ever taken a concubine?"
"The student has never taken a concubine."
"Are you impotent?"
"...My lord! You are going too far!"
(Yes, the word impotence appeared in medical books in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties.)
