In Huang Qiong's view, it was abnormal for his brother-in-law to pick flowers and willows so unscrupulously. For a family like Guilin County Prince's Mansion, it doesn't matter if other bastards who no longer have the right to inherit are like this. Because this would be more reassuring for both the family head and the chosen heir.
Anyway, the family is big and the business is big, so it can be taken care of. But as a heir who has been chosen to inherit a huge family fortune in the future, it would be abnormal to act like this. If the heir behaves like this, any other family would have been ruined long ago. Not to mention, the Guilin County Prince's Palace, which has produced many talents for more than a hundred years, would fail to educate a prince like this?
Either he did this deliberately to show it to the court, in an attempt to show something to the court. Either they have ulterior motives and are deliberately covering up something. Huang Qiong believes that it is most likely the latter of the two. When I think of the prince's repeated encounters with the Northern Liao Liang King, the article becomes even more complicated.
Thinking of this, Huang Qiong felt a faint movement in her heart, and immediately ordered people to go to the Ministry of Household Affairs to find the sales data of iron in the past few years on Guangnan East and West Road, Qianzhong Road, Huguang South Road, Fujian Road, and Jiangnan West Road, and send it to herself 's mansion. Prepare to wait until after the palace examination to take a good look at it. In Huang Qiong's view, these trivial details may not lead to more things he needs.
The official sale of salt and iron has been a national policy that has been strictly implemented by all dynasties since the Han Dynasty, and this dynasty is no exception. Salt tax is the largest input of this dynasty after agricultural tax. The Ministry of Revenue has certain statistics on the amount of salt and iron sold by the government every year. Although the statistics may not be so detailed, if you want to verify your guess, a rough number is enough.
However, five days before the palace examination, when Huang Qiong returned from the palace, he heard something shocking. On this day, Sima Rui divorced his married wife in the name of being jealous and childless. When Huang Qiong first heard the news, he initially thought that his affair with Wu Zhiyu had come to light. Sima Rui didn't dare to settle accounts with himself, and couldn't bear the label, so he took it out on his wife.
But that night, Huang Qiong happened to be at Wu Ziyu's place. But he learned it from Wu Zhiyu, who was extremely wronged. It turned out that after that night, Wu Zhiyu, who did not want to have any contact with Huang Qiong, returned to his yard at dawn. What she didn't expect was that as soon as she entered the yard, Sima Rui even asked her where she had been, then pointed at her nose and yelled at her.
Accusing her of being a housewife and being extremely jealous. He also stayed away from home for two consecutive days and ignored the elderly and children at home. Wu Zhiyu, who was apologetic to him because of last night's accident, didn't even scold him back at first, but just endured it silently. But later I saw that what he said was really outrageous, so I just argued a few words. This husband, who always prided himself on being a scholar, was slapped a few times.
And since then, Sima Rui simply stopped entering Wu Zhiyu's room. During the day, he would either study in the study or go out with Sima Hong all day long. At night, I simply stayed in the rooms of the Korean maids and the Japanese women. If you were still secretive in the past, you were afraid of being discovered by her. Now it was made public directly, and he even flirted with her in front of her.
No matter how Wu Zhiyu begged, it was of no use. Sima Rui also threatened that although he did not dare to compare with the King of England who had so many beauties around him. But among the officials in the capital right now, which one doesn’t have three wives and four concubines? Now he is also a man who is about to have an official status. What's wrong with finding a few Korean maids and Japanese girls to serve him as concubines and maids?
None of the ladies with official orders said anything. She, a woman who could not even give birth to a son and had already committed seven sins, had what qualifications to take care of this? Don't blame him for divorcing her if you talk too much. Anyway, there are many women from official families who propose marriage to him, so he can definitely find one who can not only bear him a son, but also help him in his career.
In desperation, Wu Zhiyu went to Sima Hong for help, but Sima Hong always hesitated and refused to come forward. It wasn't until she asked repeatedly that she found out that during these days, Sima Rui hardly left home during the day, and even put aside preparations for the imperial examination. While following Sima Hong, who was preparing for his own comeback and deliberately paving the way for him, he went to visit old friends in the officialdom.
The officials who had previously avoided Sima Hong's visits when he first came to Beijing, or dismissed them with some money, now had a 180-degree turn in their attitude. Not only did they welcome each one of them out in person, but they stayed there all day long to drink wine or drink tea. They were fawning over them in every possible way. Although Sima Hong is currently staying in the British Prince's Mansion and dare not give any gifts.
But Mokouzi agreed to Sima Hong's request to take care of his son one by one. During these days, I visited those high-ranking officials and dignitaries almost non-stop. Not only did Sima Rui, who had just arrived in the capital, but also looked like a country bumpkin, see the extremely luxurious life of those high-ranking officials. He is full of yearning for his future official career, and his thoughts are also much wilder.
Although Sima Hong was restricted by his original position, the capital has changed a lot in recent years. Some of Sima Hong's acquaintances were let go, some lost their jobs, and some were promoted to positions beyond his reach. In fact, the person who could take him to visit was either a colleague from the same year or a colleague from the Ministry of Industry. Among them, the ones with the highest official positions are just a few third-rank ministers.
The rest are mostly Qingshui Yamen like Jiu Temple. But now in Beijing, officials entertain each other with banquets, accompanied by domestic prostitutes and singing girls. If a guest stays overnight, it is already a custom to stay with him. This period of life with beautiful women serving banquets, even getting drunk at the host's house several times, and staying with domestic prostitutes made Sima Rui look down on his poor wife more and more.
Even his wife is far better than those women in terms of beauty and figure. It's just that Wu Zhiyu, who is busy with her family all day long and focuses on her children and husband, rarely has the opportunity to dress up. The indulgence during this period of time made Sima Rui, the original local steamed stuffed bun, lose his sight. Only then did he hook up with the Korean maid sent by Huang Qiong to take care of his father and son.
What made him even more excited was that among the officials he visited during this period, a minister from the province learned that Sima Rui's wife had never given birth to a son for him. He proposed to betroth one of his Yunying unmarried nieces to Sima Rui as his wife. As for the fact that Sima Rui was married, they didn't care at all.
He directly proposed that his niece should be the first wife and Sima Rui's original wife should be the equal wife. Although the official who proposed the marriage was only the current servant, his powers and responsibilities were not very great. But it was pointed out more than once that he would be transferred to the Imperial Academy's bachelor's degree after passing the imperial examination. He has no children, and this niece has been raised by his side since she was a child. It is almost as if she is not her biological daughter.
Moreover, my niece is not only gentle and virtuous, but also talented and beautiful. Although she is only eighteen years old, she is also a very famous and talented girl in the capital. She has many good friends with the ladies and ladies of various families in the capital. Although she was betrothed to Sima Rui because of the big age difference, she would not only help Sima Rui's family flourish, but she would also become Sima Rui's virtuous wife.
What Sima Hong hoped most was that after Sima Rui passed the imperial examination, he could enter the Hanlin Academy, the cradle of the six ministerial books. Now that my son has passed the general examination, the next step is the palace examination. As for the imperial examinations of this dynasty, the Zili Zong dynasty had failed at the last moment due to the failure of the scholars in the previous imperial examinations. They were unwilling to accept the failure and defected to Northern Liao and Dali in anger, and even the Tubo tribes frequently happened.
The talents that this dynasty has worked so hard to cultivate have gone to work for their opponents. In Northern Liao, he once occupied 30% of the Han officials, and even made suggestions for his opponents, repeatedly causing the opponent's cavalry to buckle. In order to appease the emperor's heart and stop cultivating talents for his opponents, the imperial examination system was reformed during the Lizong Dynasty. Each palace examination only determines the ranking, and does not eliminate candidates who have already won the examination.
The most important thing about the palace examination is that the ranking results are related to the distribution of positions after the six ministries observe politics. In addition to the first-level Jinshi who will definitely enter the Hanlin Academy, and the second-level who can pass the imperial examination and select the Shujishi, the third-level will depend on chance. Of course, generally, there are relatively more Jinshi who come from the top three ranks and are distributed to various walks of life after the end of the administration.
In other words, after Sima Rui passed the examination, although his ranking was a little lower, he had already entered the officialdom. After the palace examination is completed and the rankings are determined, the six departments will be distributed to observe politics. At the same time, they can also prepare for the formal examination. At this time, Sima Hong took his son around to visit, with the intention of paving the way for his son's follow-up. Of course, during this period, he must be willing to use Huang Qiong's banner.
Otherwise, even if he is about to resurrect, how many really high-ranking and powerful people will pay attention to him? He was dismissed from his fourth-grade official position after being found guilty. Even if he was reinstated, he would basically have to start from scratch from his fourth-grade official position. Among the princes and dignitaries everywhere, they are the second and third grade officials, while a fourth grade official is really inconspicuous. Although it is not everywhere, it is not really outstanding.
Even if the King of England breaks the example for him and gives him an extra level. But in this capital city where there are many dignitaries, there are no real positions of power such as Minister of the Six Ministries, Minister of Zhongshu Sheren, Deputy Imperial Envoy to the left and right of Yushitai, and Privy Council Emperor. A third-rank official who was not from a noble family and had no support behind him. In the eyes of those powerful people, he may not be any better than a fourth-grade official.
Although his attitude will change from before, after all, he is now a member of the King of England. But if it's in his own name, people still won't treat him too well. At his age, he is only a fourth-grade official who has not really recovered yet, and no one can look down upon him. And under the banner of the King of England, the treatment is naturally different. Of course, with Sima Hong's cunningness, he would not openly use the banner of the King of England.
Therefore, he has always been quite cryptic when sending greetings. It's just that the greeting card only says Sima Hong pays his respects, but the address says that Ming Huanghuang and his party are temporarily staying in the British Prince's Palace. Although he didn't say it explicitly, the words "Prince's Palace" on the greeting card were even more effective than if he said it directly. Apart from the King's confidants, who else can live in the King's Palace with his whole family?
Who is the King of England? He is almost certain to be the next crown prince. Now in the court, he is almost in a position equivalent to supervising the country, and he is in charge of three ministries. I heard that most of the memorials handed down from the palace for daily review by the emperor were written by the King of England. Now it is too late for everyone to find opportunities to curry favor with the King of England, so how can they neglect the people who live in the King's Palace? That's why this marriage proposal came about.
For Sima Hong, although there was some reluctance in his heart. After all, this daughter-in-law is extremely filial to him. During the years when he was in trouble, the family relied entirely on this daughter-in-law. She worked hard to maintain the family from complete ruin. In the Sima family for so many years, there was no credit but hard work. If you just leave the hall like this, it would be a bit unethical. What's more, it is an ancient saying that a wife of chaff should not go to court.
