Zhang Juzheng's prediction yesterday was not wrong. This time, the selection of the crown prince's companion was due to Li Wei's words. The final candidates were really "consciously" restricted by the officials to the cabinet ministers and the six ministers or the nine ministers. Or to be more precise: they are all the sons and grandchildren of high-ranking officials who are qualified to participate in the nomination.
And because these officials may not have descendants of the right age in their families, in the end only the following people participated in the selection of Wenhua Hall: Li Chunfang’s grandson Li Sicheng, Gao Gong’s nephew Gao Pragmatic, Zhao Zhenji’s grandson Zhao Zuyin, Zhang Juzheng’s son Zhang Jianxiu, Lu Lu Xingzhou, the son of Tiaoyang, Ge Xi, the grandson of Ge Shouli, Shen Yongmao, the son of Shen Shixing, and Ma Zhen, the son of Ma Ziqiang.
Gao Pragmatic didn't know the list until he arrived at the Wenhua Palace, but he immediately smiled after getting the list.
This group of children who are about the same age as him, logically speaking, all of them have left their names in the history books. At first glance, they all look smart, but Gao pragmatically knows that these children... at least from the perspective of knowledge In terms of performance, there is still a gap.
Judging from the original historical situation, there may be two biggest threats to him today. The first one is Li Chunfang's grandson Li Sicheng. This person will be a Jinshi in the 26th year of Wanli. Later, he will be promoted to the Minister of Rites and the crown prince's Taibao. He passed the Jinshi examination entirely on his own ability. After becoming an official, this man was very courageous. Because he refused to be attached to Wei Zhongxian by the party, he was framed and demoted. It was not until the Chongzhen period that he was vindicated.
The second one is Ge Xi. Historically, he was Jieyuan of Shandong in the fourth year of Wanli. He was a Jinshi in the eleventh year of Wanli. He was a Jinshi much earlier than Li Sicheng. It can be seen that he was a young and talented person. After he was a Jinshi, he became a commoner. Jishi, he was awarded the imperial examination by the Hanlin Academy. Unfortunately, he died too early and ended up working as a secretary of the Imperial Academy in Nanjing. Moreover, there are five poets in the Ge family. Needless to say, there is no need to say much about talent and learning.
The reason why he is ranked after Li Sicheng is because Ge Shouli is a good friend of Gao Gong. The last time Gao Gong became an official, Ge Shouli was also implicated, and they have gone home to take care of themselves. After Gao Gong's resurrection, he just restored Ge Shouli as the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment. He is a die-hard ally of high arches. In this way, Ge Shouli must have an explanation for his grandson and will not forcefully compete with Gao Pragmatic.
Lu Xingzhou, Shen Yongmao and Ma Zhen were all awarded Jinshi in history. Especially Shen Yongmao, who was the second and twenty-first Jinshi in the eleventh year of Wanli. It's just that his success as a Jinshi was largely due to the power of his father Shen Shixing at the time. Wei Yunzhen, the imperial censor, once exposed this situation in a letter, but Wanli reiterated Shixing's letter at the time and did not pursue it.
Shen used Maolei as an official to serve as a doctor in the Ministry of War. Later, Wanli promoted him to the rank of Taipusi Shaoqing, and ordered him to be responsible for the affairs of the Fangqing Officials Department as a Taipusi Shaoqing. Then he moved to Youqiandu to be the censor, and patrolled Shuntian on behalf of the emperor. In the early years of Chongzhen, he was promoted from the Right Minister of the Ministry of War to the Left Minister of the Ministry of War, and then moved to the position of Minister of the Ministry of War. He begged to return home due to illness. After his death, he was given to the crown prince as Taibao. It can be seen that although his status as a Jinshi may be a bit unfair, his personal abilities are not bad - if he is not, he will not be able to get away with it.
As for Lv Xingzhou and Ma Zhen, they both had Jinshi backgrounds, but in history, their status as Jinshi was somewhat ambiguous, and the matter may have something to do with Zhang Siwei. Gao pragmatically raised his eyebrows and stopped paying attention.
The last two left are Zhao Zuyin and Zhang Jianxiu. The two of them are the reason Gao Pragmatic laughs.
Zhao Zuyin is the grandson of Zhao Zhenji. Others say that "people are like their names", but he is "named like his people". His appearance here is basically due to Zuyin. Historically, he was known as "a native of Shushe in Zuyinzhong, and served as the prefect of Xundian Military and Civilian Prefecture in Yunnan Province". From this sentence alone, Gao Pragmatic can almost tell that this person has no great ability.
This starts with the Enyin system of the Ming Dynasty. The Enyin system of the Ming Dynasty is recorded in the "Huidian of the Ming Dynasty": civil servants from the first to the seventh rank are all given a son to earn their fortune... The first rank is a son, and the fifth rank is described; The first grade is from the fifth grade; the second grade is from the sixth grade... But this is only based on the rules copied from the previous dynasty. In fact, in the early Ming Dynasty, civil servants did not follow this practice, and most of them were special favors. , since it is a special favor in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, let's not mention it for now.
After Hongzhi and Zhengde, the civil servant Yinxu system became more mature and was roughly divided into three levels: Shangbao Sicheng (the sixth rank), Zhongshu Sheren (the seventh rank) and Guozi Jiansheng. The first tribute is Yipin Enyin, for example, he pays homage to Shang Bao Sicheng. If Cikui reaches the first rank with the Six Ministers, he will have to pay homage to Zhongshu Sheren. Of course, the rank of the bachelor itself is not high, and the "first rank" here should refer to the additional false titles of San Gong (the first rank) and Sangu (the first rank). As for the first-class minister Enyin Shangbao Sicheng, it is actually a practice that has been formed since Jian Yi in the first year of Hongxi.
In Shang Baosi, there is one Qing, one Shao Qing, and three Sicheng. Palm seals, talismans, and seals, and identify their uses.
During the Hongwu period, most of the Shangbaosi were appointed by their descendants, such as Geng Bingwen's son Geng Xuan and Xu Da's son Xu Yingxu; during the Yongle period, most of the Shangbaosi were former ministers of Qiandi, such as Zhu Xiu and Yuan Zhongche. Afterwards, many honorable ministers took over and took military positions, and Shangbao Sicheng became the highest position of Yinzi, an important civil official.
However, although Shangbao Sicheng, who was born in Enyin, has a high starting point, his career development is difficult to compare with that of his colleagues who came from the imperial examination. It is generally difficult for him to make a career outside the country. The fixed path is to reach the fifth rank) and the Shaoqing of Taichang Temple (the fourth rank). After nine years of examination, you will be promoted step by step. Jian's son Jian Ying, Xia Yuan's son Xia Xuan, Li Xian's son Li Zhang, and Xu Jie's son Xu Fan all fell into this category. In the end, the one with the highest position was only the third-rank Taichangqing. Of course, there are advantages, including leisure and stability, and at most being able to show up at various ceremonies.
Compared with Shang Bao Sicheng, Zhongshu Sheren, who performed the duties of secretary, was a real close minister of the emperor, and therefore the children of civil and military ministers always flocked to him. Compared with the top-level configuration, which was established early, the criteria for awarding Zhongshusheren were finally established after long-term changes. This process also well reflects the rising trend of cabinet status after the mid-Ming Dynasty.
As a writing secretary, it is important to have talent and learning, but it is also very important to write well: "In the early days of the country, people who could calligraphy were ordered to belong to the Zhongshu Department and were awarded Zhongshu Sheren; in the second year of Yongle, people who could write slips in the Ministry of Officials were ordered to be placed in Hanlin. Give Lin a salary so that he can use all the cabinet documents."
Chu Hanlin was known as a "calligraphy scholar", and he usually needed to go through a "trial job", that is, an internship, before he could be awarded the title of Zhongshu Sheren, which meant he was a "calligraphy scholar." There is a loophole to exploit. It is not appropriate to directly ask for an official position. Asking for an internship opportunity to do your job is not too much, right? So there is such a thing as "the son of Heng, the left minister of the household department of Guanglu Temple, was used as the official of Zhongshushe, Heng, the son of Heng, was asked to write for the third year of Gaoying as an example. He was born and died."
After three years of hard work copying imperial edicts, it was natural to ask for "an example of background". The consequence of this is that "the old system of Zhongshusheren has 20 members and now has 36 members." There are too many redundant members and there is a lot of mud and sand.
As a result, some ministers who thought that their children were talented and learned would not accept it even if the emperor asked them to be kind to their children. For example, "The Crown Prince, Grand Tutor, Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and Grand Scholar of Huagaidian, Wan An, etc., all resigned from their sons and Sun Zhongshu's posts due to Xingbian. The decree was issued: Your Majesty and others have been tutoring me in the erotic palace for many years, and each of them has been appointed a son as a reward. I won't let you quit after all your hard work." Compared with those people who work hard to get a job, they can rise to the top in no time.
This differential treatment, on the one hand, reflects the emperor's trust in his cabinet ministers, which in itself is an important reason for the rise in status of cabinet ministers; on the other hand, it can be seen that the awarding standards are gradually being adjusted. Coupled with the gradual improvement of the system for Yinzi's entry into prison as a support, the threshold for Yinzi to become a scholar in Zhongshu has actually been raised. During the Jingtai and Tianshun years, there were many examples of fourth- and fifth-rank officials begging for favors, but by the Zhengde period, the third-rank ministers were no longer enough. Only because of their status do they get preferential treatment. At this point, the convention that "those who have reached the first rank with the six ministers from Ci Kui will have to pay homage to Zhongshu Sheren" has been basically formed.
The above are either special gifts or "high matching". What is the normal situation? It was Enyin's son who was born to the Imperial Son. Imperial College Student Supervisor is not an official position, but for the imperial court, it is actually more prudent. After all, the two categories mentioned above are rare, and the Supervisory Student Supervision System is enough to affect the entire talent selection mechanism. Therefore, although there were cases in the early Ming Dynasty of "begging for permission to be sent to the Imperial College", and after the Orthodox era, there were also many descendants of officials who "wanted to be admitted to prison", the emperor repeatedly imposed various restrictions on the grounds that "the Imperial College is a place for nurturing talents and cannot be entered indiscriminately". By the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the chief minister's children were often born in Enyin's Imperial College.
Although it stands to reason that as a minister of the cabinet, you do not need to compete with third-rank officials for the spot of supervising students, but three factors must be taken into consideration: First, when ordinary ministers are promoted to third-rank officials, most of their sons will have reached adulthood, and no one will know about it in advance. You can enter the court and let your son stay at home all the time; secondly, before the Zhengde Dynasty, you were the shadow of the queen, and you will only remember this after you have passed the imperial court; thirdly, a great scholar is likely to have more than one son. Therefore, even if he is the son of the first assistant, it is very likely that he was born as a prisoner. Furthermore, joining the official position as a supervisory student theoretically has a much brighter future. After all, it is theoretically one of the "right paths". Although it cannot be compared with the imperial examination after the mid-term, but with a father who is the chief minister of the cabinet, this is not a problem. .
Take the notorious Yan Shifan as an example. After supervising the students and finishing their studies, he first served as an intern in the Houjun Governor's Office and was later promoted to Shuntian Prefecture. These were considered normal promotions. In the 22nd year of Jiajing, Yan Song sought Shang Baocheng for him. Zheng Xiao, the literary selector of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, believed that "it is an exception to move the magistrate to Zhongzhong. There is no story about moving Shangbao." In fact, although Shuntian Prefecture Zhizhong is in Beijing, many times More like a foreign official, this is an invisible gap. It is not unusual for Yan Song to choose the position of Shang Bao Sicheng. After all, this is the treatment that the son of the chief minister can theoretically enjoy. What is really difficult to replicate is the rapid promotion speed that followed. In a few years, he was promoted from the fifth-grade Shangbao Si Shaoqing to the third-grade Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Industry in a few years.
In addition to Yan Shifan, he was the first assistant to the Shang Dynasty during the Chenghua period. The second son, Shang Liangfu, also entered the Imperial Academy first with Enyin, and was then awarded the position of director of the Ministry of Rites, and finally became the minister of Taipu Temple in the third rank.
In contrast to the above, the even worse one is Enyin Military Position. Needless to say, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the nobles in culture and the military were lowly, and they were reduced to military positions, which shows that their cultural level was really incompetent.
Zhao Zuyin, the grandson of Zhao Zhenji, later chose to be a scholar in Enyinzhong, and in the end he only became a prefect in the border areas of Yunnan. Zhang Juzheng's fourth son, Zhang Jianxiu, was even more incompetent. There was such an old man, who was born in the military service of Enyin, and was a few years older than him. Not even close to being a brother.
