Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 526: Ancestral Rules and Teaching
Although the Imperial College has an open day every month, for example, when Yue Shanzhang of Zhaoming Academy and his party arrived in the capital, it was the Imperial College's open day and the Jiuzhang Hall was recruiting new students, so there were many people watching. But this time, the emperor issued an edict to invite four famous directors and Zhang Shou, a doctor of the Imperial College who has been in the limelight in recent years, to give lectures in the Ruxing Hall, which attracted even more attention.
This kind of lecture is completely different from the previous Imperial College open days!
Therefore, from the early morning of this day, the street where the Imperial College was located began to be crowded with people. Although it was not yet October, the candidates who were going to Beijing for the examination were far from all here - after all, many prefectures had just released the list of candidates, and the new candidates were still on the way even if they were going to Beijing by bus. The only ones who could come were those "past candidates" who had already achieved the title of Juren.
At this time, people gathered in groups of three or four, either according to their hometown or friendship, but the topic of discussion was not just today's lecture. Because in recent days, there have been too many things happening in the capital! During the chat, someone just mentioned that the emperor planned to let Zhao Guogong Zhu Jing be the Minister of War, which was really against the ancestral system, and was scolded by the people next to him.
"During Grandpa Taizu's time, there were many cases of military officers being transferred to civil service positions! Not to mention the Minister of War, a Confucian general close to Grandpa Taizu was also the Minister of Personnel, a high-ranking official! If you don't understand the ancestral system, don't talk nonsense and make people laugh at you!"
The one who was speaking out was none other than Fang Qing, who had the title of Juren and could not hold back and specially came to listen to this rare lecture. The one beside him who was still walking unsteadily was Juren Song, who had been hit on the buttocks by seven or eight whips and had not yet fully recovered.
Song Juren, who was always bad-mouthed, couldn't help but want to retort when he heard someone talking nonsense, but he didn't expect Fang Qing to beat him first. He didn't want to be outdone: "Don't talk about the ancestral system all the time. As long as you don't lead troops, even a Duke can be in charge of a ministry. As long as you lead troops, even a cabinet minister needs to be transferred to the military rank. There are precedents. Go back and read "Treasure Instructions of Taizu" carefully!"
The scholar who brought up this topic was caught off guard by the joint attack of Fang Qing and Song Juren. Although the others around him wanted to fight back, the four words "Taizu Baoxun" were too intimidating.
So, after a moment of silence, someone in the corner changed the subject: "By the way, have you heard about the recent colored cotton incident? It's ridiculous. Shouldn't all cotton in the world be white? What about brown cotton? I think that's not a good omen, but a bad omen. It's better to burn it!"
As soon as these words
"If you said it beforehand, you could say it was because of different political views and anger. But if you said it afterwards, in public, aren't you afraid that people would say you were in cahoots with the thieves? Besides, if you can pass the imperial examination and become a juren, you can't be sure that you haven't even read the Ming Dynasty Law, right? Don't you know what arson is?"
The atmosphere that had just heated up a little bit suddenly cooled down again. Especially the scholar who had just praised the good cooking, he almost regretted it when he saw that most of the eyes cast at him were weird and subtle.
Especially since he had already discovered that the guy who was picking on him was one of the two people who had previously argued that it was against the ancestral system for Duke Zhao to be appointed as the Minister of War. The guy next to him who had started the fight first seemed to be eager to try and add a few words to his criticism. He was suddenly ashamed and angry, but in the end he did not get angry and fight back. Instead, he simply turned away and went somewhere else.
If I can't afford to offend you, I can at least avoid you, right?
However, just as Mr. Song was about to be complacent, Fang Qing beside him suddenly reached out and grabbed him, and then dragged him in another direction without saying anything. When they left the place where the people gathered at the beginning and saw other people talking loudly around, he let go of his hand and sneered, "Don't just focus on talking. What do you think would happen if someone recognized you?"
"As long as people are shouting, this is the gentleman who didn't cherish his title of Juren and actually studied the art of cooking. Do you think you can get away with it? The more harshly you scolded others just now, the more harshly you will be scolded after that!"
Mr. Song's face suddenly changed, and his first reaction was to look around to see if anyone heard Fang Qing's whisper. When he was sure that no one noticed, he glared at Fang Qing and said, "You are crazy, what good will it do you to expose my shortcomings! Isn't it because you spoke too quickly that I have this old habit?" In the future, he must never hang out with people who have bad mouths, otherwise he will definitely be mean!
Fang Qing and Mr. Song glared at each other fearlessly, so even though some people around them talked about colored cotton and Duke Zhao's resignation as the Minister of War, or even such "trivial matters" as the Cangzhou escort ship, they no longer had time to make sarcastic remarks.
Just when the surroundings were noisy, a loud drumbeat was heard. As the drumbeats from the Imperial College's drum tower gradually spread, the originally noisy place gradually became quiet. Although it was not completely silent, at least the loud voice could be heard clearly.
"All students, please be quiet! The deans and Dr. Zhang are about to arrive. The space in front of the Suixing Hall is limited. Please come and get your number plate according to your place of origin and take your seat according to your number plate!"
When they heard the words "take your seat", some people were secretly surprised, thinking that they had heard that the Imperial College had been renovated. Could it be that the Ruxing Hall was now refurbished, so it could accommodate so many people? But when the people at the front took out their travel permits or other identity documents, passed the verification, got their number plates, and entered, they were immediately disappointed.
What about taking a seat? It was just that there were many white lines in front of the Ruxing Hall, marking off areas like A, B, C, and D, and then they were instructed to sit on the ground. The only slightly more humane thing was that those who arrived early could grab those straw mats, at least to ensure that their butts would not be cold when they sat down to listen to the lecture.
With such treatment, when Song Juren and Fang Qing were led to the designated area to "take their seats", they naturally frowned. However, when an old Juren who had taken a seat on a cushion earlier waved his hand and asked them to sit over, he said with a smile: "Although the Imperial Examination Hall for the provincial and imperial examinations is a bit shabby, during the palace examination, people also sit on the floor."
"So you'd better get used to it as soon as possible, so that you won't be too cold to hold the pen and write when you take the palace examination in the future. That would be really painful."
Although Mr. Song was a bit of a bad mouth, he was also a very outgoing person. He immediately smiled and sat down, then greeted him warmly, "Senior, you are so experienced, have you ever participated in the palace examination?"
As soon as he said this, Fang Qing punched him on the head. After the punch, Fang Qing bowed to the old scholar in embarrassment, and then said apologetically: "Please forgive me, old senior. My friend often talks nonsense. He didn't mean it."
After apologizing, Fang Qing angrily cursed in a low voice: "Song Hunzi, you idiot, you can still participate in the provincial examination eight or ten times, but the palace examination never fails to expel anyone, how can anyone participate in the palace examination several times?"
Song Juren just forgot himself and said the wrong thing. Although he was annoyed by the blow on his head, Fang Qing was right after all, so he could only hold his head and laugh dryly to apologize to the old Juren. He and Fang Qing were both young talents in their early twenties, while the old Juren was already over fifty. Seeing that the two of them were sincerely apologizing, his anger just faded away.
"Looking at your age, you must be newly promoted juren who have only participated in the imperial examination once at most, or even have not participated in the imperial examination due to family matters?" Seeing that Song Juren and Fang Qing both nodded and admitted that they had missed the last imperial examination, the old juren sighed and said, "I have limited qualifications. I passed the examination for a scholar at the age of 24 and a juren at the age of 34. This took more than ten years and I took the examination five times."
He stretched out his palm and shook it, his face full of sighs. And this old scholar who opened up the chatterbox then began to lament the hardship of the imperial examination for more than ten years.
He kept talking on and on, and Mr. Song and Fang Qing couldn't help but regret sitting with him. However, even though they wanted to shut the other person's mouth, they couldn't do it. They could only endure the pain.
It was unknown how long it had been, but a clear sound like that of a bell or something like that was heard. Not only did Mr. Song and the old man beside Fang Qing stop talking immediately, but the others who were whispering also stopped. Then a voice came with the wind.
"Today, in compliance with His Majesty's order, the four principals of Ming Academy, Yuzhang Academy, Taihu Academy, and Huating Academy, as well as Dr. Zhang of the Imperial College, are summoned to give lectures at the Ratexing Hall. This hall was originally the Banshan Hall of the Imperial College. It was exchanged with the Ratexing Hall at the beginning of the year. Now it can accommodate thousands of teachers and students. The Emperor is sincere in encouraging learning, and I hope that all students will understand His Majesty's intentions and study hard!"
Originally, this event was supposed to be hosted by Zhou Jijiu of the Imperial College or Luo Siye, but today it was Xu Heida, the Supervisor of the Shengqian Hall, who came forward. The others didn't know what was going on, but Zhang Shou knew it clearly.
Allowing others to become famous in his own territory, even though Zhou Jijiu and Luo Siye hoped that someone could restrain this young doctor of the Imperial College, this scene was heartbreaking, so the chief and deputy academic officials simply sat down and listened to the lecture!
Xu Heida was not a person who liked to speak at length. After he finished his polite words, he did not care about the expressions of the four deans because of the seating arrangement he had just announced. He said directly: "At this moment, please summon Dean Yue of Ming Academy to start the lecture!"
Seeing Xu Heidao give up the central seat, Zhang Shou smiled and waved to the black-faced supervisor, and waited for others to come and sit next to him. From the beginning, he did not sit with the three heads of the school, but sat with his group of students. He whispered, "Xu Supervisor, did Zhou Jijiu tell you the order of registration just now, or did the imperial edict say so?"
Xu Heida showed a hint of surprise on his face, and then he said frankly: "Of course it is in the order in which they arrived in the capital."
Lu Sanlang, who was busy with his work but dropped everything to come to the lecture, couldn't help rolling his eyes even though he didn't get along with Xu Heizi on weekdays. It's fine if you were asked to do such an offensive job, but you didn't even know how to be vague and even randomly ranked people? Do you know how many students these four academies have in the court? Will they hate you in the future?
No wonder he is just a supervisor...it will be impossible for him to be promoted in his lifetime!
Zhang Shou was equally speechless after hearing Xu Heida's brainless way of arranging the seats. However, he was too lazy to correct this iron-faced supervisor who was determined to offend people. Seeing that the third prince was sitting absent-mindedly next to Lu Sanlang, he stood up and exchanged seats with Lu Sanlang, then whispered, "Zheng Rong, are you still thinking about your brother?"
Zhang Shou was used to calling the Third Prince by his name, and the Third Prince thought it was better this way, but he was not happy at the moment . Because although the Fourth Prince listened to the Emperor's advice and studied in the palace, and he tried his best to tutor others, his ability was still insufficient. Although he tried his best to explain in detail, some things he understood did not mean that others would understand them.
He felt that the result was minimal and could clearly feel that the Fourth Prince had been in a low mood these days, so he couldn't help but ask, "Teacher, am I too stupid to speak well in front of my fourth brother?"
"No, it's because the Fourth Prince's aptitude in mathematics is actually inferior to yours." After Zhang Shou whispered this, he saw the Third Prince's surprised and unbelievable expression, so he smiled and said, "Okay, you don't have to belittle yourself, just take your time. By the way, I can tell your fourth brother that he is not suitable to come to the Imperial College often, but he can go to other places."
Seeing that the Third Prince was suddenly surprised and delighted, he pointed to the stage and said, "Shanzhang Yue is about to start his lecture, so listen carefully."
Just now, those were the opening words of Yue Shanzhang. Therefore, Zhang Shou had just talked with the Third Prince. Now that the lecture had officially started, he naturally listened carefully - even if he was not serious, he had to act serious. This was the experience he had summed up after many meetings. It was a pity that it was not popular to take a small notebook and take notes seriously when someone was lecturing.
The first half of Yue Shanzhang's lecture revolved around the importance of agriculture as the foundation of the country, and emphasized the importance of farming. There were even some sentences with ups and downs that could be written as model sentences in policy papers. The second half focused on the practical issues of water conservancy ditches and farmland irrigation and screening of good varieties. Such lectures were unheard of by the students of the Imperial College and the candidates who gathered there.
In the past, all the great scholars who came to the Imperial Academy to give lectures were idealistic, and who would be so pragmatic as to talk about something so down-to-earth? Most importantly, how many people here have ever farmed?
However, Zhang Shou, who listened very attentively but also looked around quietly from time to time, also noticed that among the sleepy faces, there were exceptions. He saw many people nodding their heads and showing joy, but he didn't know whether they were really determined to govern the local area and encourage agriculture, or just pretending to agree.
When Yue Shanchang's lecture finally came to an end and he left the stage with applause, Hong Shanchang, with a sullen face as if someone owed him three hundred strings of cash, finally stepped onto the podium. He glanced around, his eyes lingering on Zhang Shou's face for a moment, but then he looked at the third prince beside him, and then he coughed and began: "Loyalty, filial piety, chastity, and righteousness are the great ethics of human beings. When you understand reason and see your nature, you will finally see your true self..."
Even though he had only heard the beginning, Zhang Shou already understood what was going on - it was obvious that Director Hong was a rationalist!
