Countless people are waiting for the imperial court to announce the chief and deputy examiners for this Gengchen Examination. As the only one with legal decision-making power, Zhu Yijun, the Emperor of Heaven, is also in a dilemma these days.
Zhu Yijun's entanglement actually starts with the addition of cabinet ministers not long ago. This time to add cabinet ministers, the final targets were Yu Youding and Xu Guo. In terms of school, Yu Youding was obviously of the lineage of spiritual studies. Xu Guo could not be said to have much academic inclination, but since he was a disciple of Gao Gong, in the eyes of the outside world he was definitely of the school of practical learning.
In this way, after the addition of the cabinet, the contrast between practical learning and spiritual learning has changed from two to one before to three to two now. Theoretically speaking, the spiritual learning lineage has made a small profit.
But some things cannot be based solely on "data", because there are many people who come from the school of mind and body, and not everyone may act according to the current retreat trend of mind and body. For example, Zhang Juzheng in history, his favor was still Xu Jie, Doesn't he still manage politics according to practical ideas?
Yu Youding is actually a person who comes from psychology but does not have much political leanings. In fact, before he entered the cabinet, it was not easy for him to have an inclination, because he was a Jinshi in the 41st year of Jiajing. The three people in this subject were Shen Shixing, Wang Xijue, and Yu Youding, and all three of them were recruited by Shi Yuan Wei, the chief examiner, passed the exam. Yuan Wei, the famous "Qing Ci Prime Minister" died in the 44th year of Jiajing, so these three first-class Jinshi were quite isolated and helpless in the court. To a certain extent, the three of them had no choice but to join the group for warmth. .
However, joining a group to keep warm is not perfect. Liu Guanzhang also needs a big brother. As the top undergraduate student, Shen Shixing has the smoothest official career, so he has undoubtedly become the "leading brother".
Wang Xijue, who was second on the list, came from a well-known Wang family in Taiyuan, and his family was still very wealthy in Taicang. In addition, he had a younger brother named Wang Dingjue, who was a Jinshi in the second year of Longqing (he was also a top student, fifth in the joint examination and ninth in the palace examination).
In fact, this is not over yet. Historically, Wang Xijue’s son Wang Heng will be able to get second place in the Huihui Examination and second place in the Palace Examination in the future, thus achieving the reputation of the Wang family as “three Jinshi in one discipline, and father and son both in second place” - Li Xunhuan and his son in Ancient Dragons. This may be the origin of the saying "Three Jinshi in one school, father and son in two."
It's okay if one person is a top student, but it's too great for a whole family to be top students, so there's no point in having Wang Xijue as the second brother.
As a result, Yu Youding had no choice but to consciously regard himself as the younger brother among the three. However, the problem was that among the three of them, Yu Youding was actually the oldest, eight years older than Wang Xijue, and Wang Xijue was older than him. Shen Shixing is one year older. In this case, Yu Youding naturally behaved the most generously.
In the officialdom, the main manifestation of magnanimity is not to argue. Yu Youding did not argue for anything. He would do whatever tasks the court gave him. He was honest and well-behaved, but there was no rush. Gao Gong was relatively indifferent to people with Yu Youding's personality. It was neither a promotion nor a deliberate suppression. However, when Guo Pu took over as the chief minister, he liked such people, so Yu Youding was promoted all the way. Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Personnel.
A disciple of the Heart School was promoted to such a prominent position by the chief assistant of the Practical School, which would naturally arouse suspicion. Therefore, although Yu Youding insisted on presenting himself as a disciple of the Heart School, his status in the lineage of the Heart School was indeed somewhat embarrassing, so Many times he can only downplay his political attitude and try to deal with things as fairly as possible.
After this calculation, there are actually some problems with the three-to-two ratio in the cabinet. On the surface, it must be three-to-two, but whether it will be effective... no one can say for sure.
The reason why Zhu Yijun's tangle started with adding cabinet ministers was because Zhu Yijun originally planned to let Zhang Siwei preside over this spring. After all, Guo Pu had already presided over several conferences, so according to convention, Zhang Siwei should be the one to preside over. The fourth dimension is coming.
However, unexpectedly, Zhang Siwei refused on the grounds that his nephew Gao Pragmatic was also taking the exam this time and he wanted to avoid suspicion. Zhu Yijun was very angry about this - I just want you to win your nephew, how can you avoid any suspicion!
But Zhang Siwei refused, and Zhu Yijun had nothing to do. Theoretically speaking, he had not yet taken charge of the government. In the final analysis, the operation of the country was actually supported by the cabinet. Guo Pu is not suitable, and Zhang Siwei is also unwilling. Then the examiner can only choose one from the other three cabinet ministers.
Logically speaking, there should be no need to choose this. Shen Shixing has been in the cabinet for several years. It is a natural operation to let him preside over the interview this time. However, Zhu Yijun also knows that Shen Shixing is a master of psychology, and he may not be interested in high-pragmatic articles. I'm relatively familiar with it. What if he just refuses to be pragmatic and middle-to-high? This is the talent that the late emperor left to me!
If Gao Jingshi passed the general examination but his ranking was not good, there would be no problem. Zhu Yijun could adjust his ranking after the palace examination; but if he failed to pass the general examination, then Zhu Yijun, the emperor, would have nothing to do.
But if you don’t need Shen Shixing, what about Yu Youding? It seems to be about the same.
In Zhu Yijun's view, no one dares to vouch for Yu Youding's political philosophy. He is from a psychology school, so he may be inclined towards articles in the style of psychology; he may also be impartial and just look at the quality of the articles; he may also take care of people like Guo Pu. As a benefactor, his students are highly pragmatic.
In short, Zhu Yijun felt a little unsafe.
As for Xu Guo, if he serves as the examiner of the joint examination, he must be the most likely to get the middle, high and pragmatic grades. After all, Xu Guo was a disciple of Gao Gong and had known Gao Jingshi for many years. Moreover, he was an official himself, so he had a debt of gratitude to Gao Jingshi.
Of course, this seniority is difficult to discuss, because in terms of the relationship between Gao Gong and Gao Gong, Xu Guo’s most formal title for Gao Jingshi should be Gao Jingshi’s “Brother Shi” - this is the official name given by disciples to the disciples of their teachers. By age. They usually refer to each other as brothers, but in fact it can only be regarded as a nickname. After all, Xu Guo is fifty-four years old this year, and Gao Jingshi is only eighteen years old. For Xu Guo to call Gao Jingshi "Brother", this... is indeed a bit A little embarrassing.
But for Xu Guo to be the examiner, although there is no problem in terms of qualifications and background, this lack of problem itself is a big problem - what if Xu Guo also refuses? Also to avoid suspicion?
Zhu Yijun considered: Even if he does not refuse and does not avoid suspicion, what if he feels regretful in the future and feels that he is not the right person to be a Jinshi? Didn’t I do bad things with good intentions?
So Zhu Yijun delayed and delayed, but finally couldn't make up his mind, so he had to invite Guo Pu over and ask Guo Pu what his opinion was.
Who would have thought that Guo Pu's answer would be very decisive: "Shen Yaoquan was born in the imperial examination and is a cabinet minister. Since the veteran minister and Zhang Fengpan are trying to avoid suspicion, it is natural that Shen Yaoquan should take charge of the examination. Please trust the cabinet and believe that Shen Yaoquan can take charge of the examination impartially."
Speaking of this, Zhu Yijun couldn't help but hesitate, because Guo Pu said that he wanted him to "trust the cabinet", so Zhu Yijun had no choice but to nod and ask the deputy examiner who was suitable.
In fact, this question is a routine matter, because after the middle of the Ming Dynasty, generally speaking, a cabinet elder was the main examiner, and the Minister of Rites was the secondary examiner. Therefore, Guo Pu did not think much and answered directly: "Pan Sheng, the Minister of Rites, is the deputy examiner." If you look at each other and have an equal footing in politics, you can be the deputy examiner."
Guo Pu's evaluation of Pan Sheng is basically in line with Zhu Yijun's view. Pan Sheng was quite arrogant when he was young. Later, when he got older, he gradually became more stable and generally would not do anything extraordinary.
On January 19, the chief and deputy examiners of the joint examination were announced. The chief examiners were Prince Taibao and Wuyingdian University Scholar Shen Shixing; the deputy examiners were Prince Shaobao and Minister of Rites Pan Sheng.
The Spring Festival of Gengchen has finally entered the final stage. People from all over the world, old and young, who have come to the capital, will soon gather in the Gongyuan of the capital to compete together.
