According to the rules, on the second day after the results of the provincial examination are released, the local government will invite all the new candidates in the area to a banquet.
The name of this feast is "Deer Ming Banquet", which means the auspicious meaning of "Yo Yo Deer Ming". It corresponds to the "Qionglin Banquet" after the names on the palace examination gold list.
The Deer Ming Banquet was made in the Tang Dynasty, and originally there was no venison in the banquet.
During the Hongwu Dynasty, Yang Xian governed Yangzhou. One time when he was hosting a deer-croaking banquet, he said, "How can a deer-croaking banquet be complete without venison?" Then he ordered people to find a deer, kill it and share the meat with the people.
When Liu Bowen heard about this, he commented that his student was "too ambitious and wants to compete in the Central Plains." So he broke off relations with him.
Sure enough, within a few years, Yang Xian was killed by Taizu for crimes such as wielding power and being domineering.
However, the custom of eating venison at the Deer Ming Feast has been preserved.
The location of the Shuntian Prefecture's Luming Banquet is at the Prefecture's Houya.
Among the eight prefectures and two prefectures in Northern Zhili, Shuntian Prefecture has the most prosperous academic style. Naturally, there were the most successful candidates, thirty-five.
After Chang Feng attended the morning court at Imperial Gate, he went to Jinyiwei to handle official duties for an hour and a half. Then I went home to shower and change clothes, put on a pan-collar T-shirt and a square scarf. Dressed like a scholar, he happily went to the Deer Ming Banquet.
Before Chang Feng joined Jinyiwei, his biggest ideal was to be lucky enough to participate in the Deer Ming Banquet in his life.
This time I got what I wanted.
Chang Feng came to the back office of Shuntian Mansion and waited for the banquet with a group of new people.
Yayuan Huang Juren is the highest ranked person in Shuntian Mansion. Ranked third on the list. He naturally became the focus of everyone.
Seeing Chang Feng coming over, Huang Juren took the initiative to talk to him: "May I ask what your surname is in the same year? How many times have you been ranked on the Guilin List?"
Chang Feng cupped his hands and replied: "I'm sorry, Chang Feng. I'm at the bottom of the list, ninety-eight."
Huang Juren had never heard of Chang Feng. This is not surprising. Some scholars may not even know who Su Shi is.
These people are deaf to what is going on outside the window and only read the books of sages. Not to mention not caring about the current situation, even if you read Tang poetry and Song lyrics, you will be criticized as "indulging in miscellaneous studies and not doing your real work."
Only the Four Books and Five Classics and Cheng-Zhu Zhixue were their "proper careers".
Huang Juren is a dog-faced person who can change at will. He suppressed his smile and showed a look of disdain on his face: "Oh, Jiu Bao should be the last among the new candidates of Shuntian Mansion. You should stand at the end of the line."
"You'll have to sit at the end of the deer-crowing banquet later, remember?"
It’s normal for Asia Yuan to look down on the bottom of the list. Chang Feng wisely retreated to the end of the queue.
Next, he heard a conversation that shocked him to the core.
Huang Juren smiled and said, "Do you know what the word 'Lu Ming' in the Deer Ming Banquet refers to?"
Li Juren next to him said, "Brother Huang, please give me some advice."
Huang Juren said: "The deer is the salary. The song is the name. The salary of the salary is the name of the reputation."
"A scholar who has studied hard for ten years in a cold window has not only the public intention to serve the country with loyalty, but also the small selfish intention of getting promoted and making a fortune."
"Success in the new examination is the beginning of entering the 'lu'. But the ancients were modest and did not want to talk about getting promoted and getting rich. Therefore, the homophonic word 'deer' was chosen."
"As for 'name', it's better to explain. Once he wins the title, he will be known all over the world, and his name will spread throughout the world. It's a homophone for 'ming'!"
Li Juren said with a smile: "Brother Huang's words are so insightful! As soon as the results were released yesterday, more than twenty people came to me to submit their services. We got a total of 200 acres of land."
"Several gentry families in the same county collected another two hundred taels of silver to congratulate me."
The land under the name of the person is tax-free. People with land will put their land in the name of Juren.
Juren charged them a rent lower than the land tax. This is called "efficiency."
As for He Yin after winning the election, it was a kind of political investment by the gentry.
If you pass the exam and get a Jinshi, you can at least be a seventh-rank county official.
If you fail in repeated examinations and fail to become a Jinshi, you can give up the general examination and go to the Ministry of Civil Affairs to put up a sign and participate in the "big competition".
If you are lucky enough to pass the big selection, you can become an eighth- or ninth-grade official such as county magistrate or chief registrar.
Don't underestimate these sesame officials. Sometimes a note can help a gentleman settle a big trouble, and a word can help a gentleman make a fortune.
Huang Juren and Li Juren started talking. All the candidates began to show off how much benefits they had received after winning the exam in just one day.
"There is a Mr. Wang in our county who was once the county magistrate. His family's land totals five or six thousand acres. Yesterday I won the election, and he gave me four young maids. They said they would be used to warm my bed. "
"Brother, I'm so lucky. I didn't have anyone to give me a girl. But someone gave me 300 acres of land. They also gave me a house."
"I'm not motivated. I won't go to college this time if I win the civil service examination. I'll hang up a sign at the Ministry of Civil Affairs and wait for the big selection. If I can be sent out to serve as a county magistrate, I can earn a thousand even if I serve for three years. Eight hundred taels of silver."
In Chang Feng's imagination, the new imperial examiners attending the Luming Banquet should discuss moral articles, or how to be good officials in the future, how to love the people and serve the court.
But now, this group of rotten scholars who wrote about benevolence, righteousness and morality in their examination papers are all talking about money, houses, fields and women, and they are all excited.
It seems that they are not scholars, but businessmen. Ten years of hard work is their capital. After years of hard work, it’s finally time to make some money.
The more Chang Feng listened, the more frightened he became.
Are these the "pillars" of the Ming Dynasty? Are these the future officials of the Ming Dynasty?
Chang Feng suddenly remembered what Kong Hongtai said three years ago when he was in the Confucius Mansion in Qufu: "Scholars, once you win the election and become an official, good people can also turn into evil ghosts!"
Liang Fuyin of Shuntian Prefecture came to the gate of Houyamen and personally greeted the young talents who had just passed the imperial examination.
All the officials knelt down and saluted Mr. Liang: "Students have met Mr. Liang."
Chang Feng did not kneel down and refused to bow.
Huang Juren scolded: "Last of the list, how dare you disrespect Shangxian?"
Chang Feng was too lazy to speak.
Liang Fuyin saw clearly that it was Chang Feng who was standing, and quickly raised his hands: "Ah, it's Mr. Chang from Jin Yiwei!"
Huang Juren was shocked when he saw this scene.
Liang Mansion Yin said: "Often thousands of households have won the imperial examination, and the emperor is full of praise for you. Being able to come to my office today for the Lu Ming Banquet really makes my office proud."
"Oh, when Mr. Liu Bingyi was the chief envoy to Northern Zhili, I served as the prefect of Shunde under him. To put it bluntly, you and I are close brothers."
Chang Feng walked up to Liang Fuyin and said seriously: "I will not attend the Deer Ming Banquet. Because I disdain to attend a banquet with a group of people who only want to get promoted and get rich!"
"Don't you know Liang Fuyin? When they were chatting just now, they talked about money, land, house and women!"
After saying that, Chang Feng deliberately walked up to Yayuan Huang Juren and said loudly: "The imperial examination is the court's ceremony for recruiting talents. But for this subject, I can only say that Shuntian Prefecture has selected a group of silverfish who are only interested in promotion and wealth!"
"I disdain to be with people like you!"
After speaking, Chang Feng left angrily.
Liang Fuyin was stunned and scolded Huang Juren angrily: "What did you just say in front of Chang Qianhu? Do you know that he is the famous person next to the emperor!"
"If he says a few words in front of the emperor, let alone your fame, even my third-grade Wusha may not be able to be saved!"
Chang Feng returned to the mansion angrily.
He finally saw the true face of these people who read the books of sages. No wonder there are never enough corrupt officials to be caught, and there are never all the corrupt officials’ mansions to be ransacked.
Liu Xiaoyan saw Chang Feng's face angry. Ask: "What's wrong?"
Chang Feng told Liu Xiaoyan what he saw and heard outside the back office of Shuntian Mansion.
Liu Xiaoyan said: "What's so strange about this? The people you met are exactly the same as my father. How many scholars and officials in the Ming Dynasty are not like that?"
"I am afraid that there is not one loyal and famous minister like Wang Shu and Ma Wensheng who took the imperial examination to become an official."
"As long as you have a clear conscience, why do you care what they look like?"
Chang Feng calmed down and said, "Oh. After wearing a pan-collar T-shirt, I really became angry about the book business. You are right. The officialdom is a big cesspool."
"It's not easy to be clean and healthy. How can we expect other people to have feces and not be contaminated?"
At this time, Tangtang walked in, holding a porcelain bowl and a tea cup: "Brother, didn't you say you want to 'smash'? I'm ready!"
"Smashing the exam" is a custom among scholars in the Ming Dynasty after they passed the exam.
If you are successful, you must smash the old things at home. Because someone will be here soon to deliver a new set. It also takes the auspicious meaning of breaking out the old and welcoming the new.
Chang Feng said: "Don't smash it! It's such a good thing, why did you smash it?"
Morning next day.
Geng Yu, the Minister of Rites, first came out to report: "Your Majesty, the envoy from Turpan paid a tribute of a pair of lions to the Ming Dynasty."
The Turpan tribe in the Western Region has always coveted the Hami Guard controlled by the Ming Dynasty. Showing courtesy for nothing is either cheating or stealing.
If there is a way, what is good at the top will be bad at the bottom.
Xianzong likes to fish and lie flat. Officials like Liu Ji were able to muddle along when things happened. As long as I don't do anything or make suggestions, the Emperor will be free. good for everyone.
Emperor Hongzhi liked ministers who could speak out and dare to give advice. Liu Ji has transformed in the past two years and can put forward a lot of suggestions every morning.
Liu Ji went out and said: "This is for your Majesty. Turpan has repeatedly violated the Hami Guards. Their envoys sent lions, but I don't know what their intentions are."
"I heard that a lion eats two sheep a day. A pair means four. That's more than 1,400 sheep a year. And fifty soldiers guard it every day."
"To raise a pair of lion disciples, wasting livestock and military strength is contrary to the emperor's philosophy of governing the country through diligence and frugality!"
"I suggest that these two lions should be starved to death."
Emperor Hongzhi said: "God has a good nature. It is always unkind to starve lions to death. I heard that many wealthy households in the capital like to raise exotic animals."
"It's better to sell it to rich households and get the money to put into the national treasury."
All the ministers shouted: "Your Majesty is wise."
Emperor Hongzhi was a young man. Young people usually have a strong curiosity about the unknown world.
Liu Ji liked him and reported again: "Your Majesty. I would like to select one hundred and twenty supervisors and send them to the Siyi Hall of the Hanlin Academy to learn the Yi language."
"Among them, there are fifteen people each from the Tatar Pavilion, Nüzhi Pavilion, Xifan Pavilion, Xitian Pavilion, Huihui Pavilion, Baiyi Pavilion, Gaochang Pavilion and Myanmar Pavilion."
"Three years later, the Hanlin Academy and the Ministry of Rites will take the exam. Those who pass will be designated as food disciples. They will be given rice and one stone per month."
If you want to understand regions other than the Ming Dynasty, you must cultivate a large number of interpreters.
Liu Ji's suggestion spoke to Emperor Hongzhi's heart.
Emperor Hongzhi said: "The first assistant's suggestion is very good. Implement the decree!"
In the following memorials, Emperor Hongzhi showed his role as a wise king.
Wang Shu suggested to Emperor Hongzhi that from now on the banquet should be held regardless of whether it is cold or hot.
This is an outrageous suggestion. Originally there were only four months of the year when no feasts were held. They are June, July, the twelfth lunar month, and the first lunar month.
Similar to the emperor's winter and summer vacations.
Lao Wang directly wanted to cancel the emperor's winter and summer vacations.
Unexpectedly, Emperor Hongzhi readily agreed: "It's accurate!"
Today's Sutra banquet in the palace is not at all like a bunch of rotten scholars and talkative people in the past.
Emperor Hongzhi had turned the Sutra banquet into an imperial meeting to discuss major policy issues.
Ma Wensheng suggested that palace superstitions and entertainment activities such as Zhaiguo, Xitianchang chanting, and Lantern Festival banquets should be banned.
Emperor Hongzhi agreed. It is indeed Mingjun!
However, young people always make mistakes. Chang Feng made mistakes, and Emperor Hongzhi also made mistakes.
Emperor Hongzhi suddenly said: "I have been thinking hard recently and came up with a national policy that will benefit the country and the people."
"Xiao Jing, read the decree I drafted to all the ministers."
This was a surprise attack carried out by Emperor Hongzhi.
In the two years since he took the throne, almost all the national policies he formulated were implemented after discussions with Wang Shu, Ma Wensheng and other important ministers.
This time, he wanted to bypass those ministers and formulate a policy of governing the country to benefit the people of Li.
Xiao Jing began to read the proposed edict: "There is an edict. It is the autumn harvest, and the two capitals and thirteen provinces are reporting a good harvest. Those who are prepared will be safe. Be prepared for the rain."
"Prefectures and counties should take advantage of good years to accumulate grain to prepare for disaster years."
"In every prefecture and county, if it is less than ten miles away, it can accumulate 5,000 stone; if it is more than ten miles and less than twenty miles, it can accumulate 15,000 stone; if it is twenty miles, it can accumulate 20,000 stone; if it is eight hundred miles, it can accumulate 190,000 stone; if it is Wei Qian A household can accumulate five thousand stones; a hundred households can accumulate three hundred stones."
"Those who accumulate more than the limit will be considered qualified. Those who exceed the limit will be promoted, and those who fail will be punished. The government, prefecture, county and military guards will regard this as promotion and removal."
"Appreciate this!"
The original intention of this decree is good. Taking advantage of the good years, let the official warehouses in various places accumulate grain.
I have food in my hands and don’t panic in my heart. When there is a disaster, there will be enough food for disaster relief.
The sutra is a good sutra.
However, Wang Shu, Ma Wensheng and other people who have experienced the ups and downs of the officialdom know that it requires a level one monk to recite the sutras.
When you get to the bottom, you don’t know what the sutra will look like!
However, they were unable to raise objections at the moment.
Because this was the first major policy independently drawn up by Emperor Hongzhi. As an important auxiliary minister, if he raises objections at this moment, it will definitely damage the emperor's authority.
Liu Ji took the lead and shouted: "Your Majesty is wise!" All the ministers echoed.
Chang Feng also felt that this decree was wise and good governance.
Emperor Hongzhi added: "The matter of accumulating grain must be completed within half a year. In March next year, I will send imperial envoys to inspect various places to check the amount of grain stored."
After the dispersion of the dynasty, Chang Feng and his ministers exited the imperial gate.
He heard completely different opinions on Emperor Hongzhi's grain hoarding policy.
Liu Jim beamed and said to his colleagues: "Your Majesty is so wise! Everyone knows that in good harvest years, they need to stock up on food to prepare for shortages. A family, a country, a country, isn't a country like a family?"
"The emperor has formulated such a benevolent edict, and our cabinet must immediately prepare an edict and implement it."
Wang Shu asked Ma Wensheng: "What do you think?"
Ma Wensheng whispered: "Let's take a look."
The days passed. Zhuang Zhuang grows up day by day and has learned to walk.
In the blink of an eye, it was March in the spring of the third year of Hongzhi.
On the bank of Yongding River in Beijing.
Changfeng leads Tangtang, Zhuangzhuang and Liu Xiaoyan on a spring outing.
Ten-year-old Tangtang picked a bunch of wild flowers and planted them all over the head of the one-and-a-half-year-old boy.
Zhuang Zhuang couldn't speak yet, so he could only "beep" and wave his little fists to express his anger at his aunt's flower arrangement.
Twenty-four-year-old Chang Feng held a piece of dogtail grass in his mouth, lying on the grass with his legs crossed, enjoying the sunshine comfortably.
Four full years have passed since that dangerous autumn night in the 22nd year of Chenghua.
Today's Chang Feng is no longer what it used to be. He won the trust of Emperor Hongzhi and the support of Wei Zhongpaoze. Sun Luan, the governor of Beizhen, was seriously ill. He was responsible for all affairs of Beizhen in the past six months.
It was only a matter of time before he was promoted to be the governor of Beizhen.
In February, he took part in the examination as a candidate, and not surprisingly, he failed. After all, the examination is the leading competition among scholars in the entire Ming Dynasty.
He had nothing to be sad about. He, an emperor and a popular figure, participated in the examination just for fun.
Mrs. Ninth did not come with her for an outing. Now Liu Xiaoyan of the Chang family is in charge of the outside, and Mrs. Jiu is in charge of the inside.
Liu Xiaoyan usually socialized with the ladies of the capital, and when she had nothing to do, she went to the palace to visit her adopted sister, Queen Zhang.
Mrs. Ninth is in charge of the household servants, expenses, purchases, firewood, rice, oil and salt.
The only fly in the ointment is that Chang Feng has had Mrs. Jiu as his concubine for a year and three months. The two of them would stay up all night every few days, which was ridiculous and almost ruined her, but Mrs. Jiu was not pregnant.
Maybe Madam Ninth had sex with someone else before she met Chang Feng. She used excessive amounts of musk as a contraceptive, which resulted in her infertility. Of course, it was impossible for Madam Ninth to tell Chang Feng about this.
In the afternoon, Chang Feng drove the carriage and the family returned to the house.
As soon as he entered the house, Chang Feng saw Madam Ninth directing the servants to carry bags of rice to the house.
Chang Feng was a little surprised: "Why did you buy so much grain?"
Mrs. Jiu said: "We are a family of six, with six outside servants, eight servant girls, and two cooks. Do you know how much grain and rice we need to eat in a day for twenty-two people?"
Chang Feng is now considered a popular figure in the capital. Although he did not commit corruption or take bribes, the rewards from Queen Zhang every now and then were not small amounts.
My father-in-law, Liu Bingyi, had been an official for many years and had accumulated a lot of money. When Liu Xiaoyan got married, the dowry amount of money and land was not a small amount.
Madam Ninth has been doing black market business for many years. The dowry brought over is also a large amount.
Therefore, the life of the Changfeng family can definitely be called wealth. Since he was a wealthy family, it was reasonable to hire more than a dozen servants, maids, and cooks.
Chang Feng said: "Then there's no need to buy so much."
Mrs. Ninth explained: "The price of food in the capital has dropped by a full 20%. You, you don't know how expensive firewood and rice are before you become a householder. I took advantage of the low price of food to stock up on more, and I can save a lot of money."
Mrs. Ninth is a frugal person.
Chang Feng was a little surprised: "You said the price of food has dropped by 20%? That's not right. The price of food should fall during the autumn harvest. In this spring season, there is no harvest. It should be the time when food prices are the highest."
Madam Ninth said: "Can I still lie to you? The rice, millet, wheat and millet in the capital are all 20% lower than in previous years!"
In ancient times, when measuring the prosperity of a dynasty, an important criterion was the price of food.
The lower the food price, the more prosperous the dynasty and the more abundant the output.
Chang Feng said with a smile: "Why don't you say that the Ming Dynasty has been in a prosperous period since the emperor came to the throne three years ago? Hey, the price of food has dropped so much."
Chang Feng didn't know yet that a major warehouse case was hidden behind the plummeting grain prices.
(End of chapter)
