The experience of failure counts as experience.
As an "experienced" politician, Queen Mother Sun knew very well that the day when the crown prince would be changed would eventually come. It was just a matter of time, and it was just a matter of eating elegantly and looking ugly.
But Empress Dowager Sun still wanted to explore the opinions of the important ministers. It would be best if she could know the approximate time when the emperor changed the crown prince.
Even if we can't get clear information, it would be good to understand the attitude of the important ministers towards changing the crown prince.
So Empress Dowager Sun carefully confirmed the process of returning to Beijing with the ministers. When talking about the abdication ceremony, Empress Dowager Sun asked directly:
"Since the Supreme Emperor committed a crime against the country and voluntarily demoted to the throne as Emperor Gongren, it is natural that the eldest son of the Supreme Emperor is no longer suitable to be the crown prince of the country.
It just so happens that the emperor already has his eldest son, so you should petition to change the crown prince to rectify the country's foundation. "
Wang Wen and others looked at each other. Everyone present could tell that Queen Mother Sun was not telling the truth, but this question was particularly difficult to answer.
Everyone's position is basically very clear, but they can only pretend to be confused. The Empress Dowager Sun did not want Zhu Jianshen to be deposed, but she could not say so directly; the ministers wanted to change the prince, but they could not say so directly.
Among the ministers present, except for Shi Pu, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, and Jin Lian, the minister of the Ministry of Punishments, who had just returned to Beijing last year, the rest were all the emperor's people.
Empress Dowager Sun never imagined that Zhu Qiyu would be so shameless. Less than a year after becoming emperor, he drove away Wang Zhi, Hu Hui, Yu Qian, Wang Ao, Shang Ren and Peng Shiquan from the emperor's faction.
Among the important ministers in front of him, except for Shi Pu and Jin Lian, whose attitudes were unclear, none of them took the Supreme Emperor seriously.
The Queen Mother's question had to be answered. Chen Xun was not in the capital, so this unfortunate question fell on Wang Wen.
The current code of conduct of the cabinet is also very simple. Whoever takes the lead must take the blame.
Wang Wen could only bite the bullet and reply: "Queen Mother Qi, as far as I know, your Majesty has never expressed any intention to change the crown prince."
It is so simple and crude. Wang Wen only talks about objective facts without any personal subjective opinions.
Queen Mother Sun couldn't ask any more questions, otherwise she would be too straightforward. And looking at Wang Wen's stubborn attitude, even if he persists in asking questions, he will only be humiliating himself.
Let's change the topic. Empress Dowager Sun confirmed again: "Then the emperor's safety was absolutely guaranteed from the time he returned to Beijing to when he checked into Nangong?"
Wang Wen replied without hesitation: "Your Majesty had previously sent 10,000 brocade guards to escort him, but later he felt it was not safe enough, so he sent Ma Liang, Yuan Bin, and Ha Ming to lead 5,000 brocade guards to greet him.
And from now on, Ma Liang, Yuan Bin, and Ha Ming will be responsible for guarding Nangong in turns. "
After hearing this, Queen Mother Sun nodded with satisfaction. Ma Liang has been Zhu Qizhen's confidant since he was a child. Yuan Bin and Ha Ming served as escorts after the Tumubao Incident, so they are both relatively trustworthy people. At least there are no cronies of Zhu Qiyu here.
After chatting about some trivial matters, Queen Mother Sun let everyone leave.
Immediately afterwards, Queen Qian and Queen Zhou also resigned.
Empress Dowager Sun glanced at Empress Qian with a faint look, and could only lament that she was unable to help the emperor's legitimate wife.
The queen, who was once a good woman, is now blind in one eye and lame in one leg. With Zhu Qizhen's character who loves to judge people by their appearance, it will be difficult for Qian to be favored again.
If a queen cannot give birth to a son, she will be in big trouble in the future.
But when the ministers returned to the cabinet, they began to review the papers in full swing.
On March 22nd, the marking ended.
On March 23, at noon, Zhu Qiyu held a small court meeting to determine the final ranking of the palace examination with the ministers.
The ministers gave suggested rankings, and the emperor could accept them all, or he could personally determine the top pick, second pick, and top pick.
Although the emperor can also make major adjustments to the palace examination rankings with his authority, he generally does not do this.
Zhu Qiyu scanned the list and saw that the rankings of the candidates generally matched his thoughts, so he didn't say anything more.
There are a total of 201 undergraduate Jinshi. The other rankings follow the results given by the cabinet and the Ministry of Rites, but the top six must be determined by Zhu Qiyu himself.
After all, the battle to defend Beijing cannot be in vain. He has accumulated such high prestige, and there is no need to wait to use it again.
First of all, Zhu Qiyu did not shy away from choosing the king of Zhongyue as the number one scholar.
Historical experience cannot fool anyone. This choice seemed a bit too radical in the eyes of the minister in front of him, but from Zhu Qiyu's perspective, it was very safe.
Wang Yue will 100% become a talented person, and he will 100% achieve the reputation of having a discerning eye.
For the second place, Zhu Qiyu chose Yu Zijun. There's nothing to say about this. I just rely solely on Zhu Qiyu's own judgment on the candidates' answer sheets and resumes.
For the top spot, Zhu Qiyu chose Gao Yao. As a prostitute, you must choose a handsome young man. Gao Yao was handsome and graceful, with a unique literary talent. He was also a loyal minister of the Jingtai Dynasty proven by history, so he was naturally Zhu Qiyu's favorite candidate.
For the top three in the second division, Zhu Qiyu chose Wang Xian, Sheng Yong, and Ma Wensheng in turn.
The rest will depend on the ranking given by the cabinet.
Wang Wen and others didn't say much. It was in line with the convention for the emperor to decide the number one scholar, role model, and top pick. It wouldn't hurt to have more top three in the second-tier league.
So Wang Wen led everyone to kneel down and congratulate the emperor with shouts of "Long Live the Mountain".
Then the imperial examination was officially concluded.
The next step is to release the results.
On March 24, the day before Zhu Qizhen set off from Datong, the Ministry of Rites officially released the results.
This first imperial examination of the Jingtai Dynasty has a distinctive feature: the new scholars are generally extremely young.
There are two hundred and one high schools in total.
Among them, 121 are under thirty years old.
Seventy-two people under forty years old.
There are only ten people over forty years old.
The oldest Jinshi is only forty-five years old.
This imperial examination should be regarded as a first.
There should be no such obvious tendency for Jinshi to become younger in the future.
Zhu Qiyu himself speculated that such a situation should occur because the cabinet was trying to cater to his own ideas.
As the saying goes, if something is good at the top, it will be very bad at the bottom.
But it may also be related to Wang Wen, Jiang Yuan, Huang Pu, and He Yi being too young.
As examiners, these people select relatively young Jinshi, which makes it easier for them to maintain their influence for a long time.
After all, the opportunity to preside over the joint examination or palace examination may only be once or twice in a lifetime.
It is also impossible for the imperial court to let a few people preside over the examinations and palace examinations endlessly. It is too easy to produce powerful ministers who are too powerful.
Zhu Qiyu can understand this, and he also hopes to select a group of young and promising Jinshi.
This generation of Jinshi is basically the backbone of the Jingtai Dynasty.
Jinshi in the fifth year of Jingtai and beyond would have already abdicated their throne before they could fully mature.
March 25th, early morning.
Zhu Qizhen, surrounded by a group of important ministers, boarded the chariot and embarked on the final journey back to Beijing.
(End of chapter)
