Chapter 133: Speak out against the emperor and read a book a hundred times

Fuque! ?
Not to mention Gu Xiancheng, even someone who was unfamiliar with officialdom like Li Kun could not help but show a look of surprise.

This is not as simple as kneeling outside the palace to make a report.

Fuque represents the disagreement with the emperor and the cabinet’s decisions!
There is a conflict between the upper and the lower!
Gu Xiancheng asked in surprise: "Xiong Dunpu?"

Li Sancai put down his hands on the shoulders of the two men and shook his head, saying, "I don't know the details either. I only heard from your teacher and Zidao that there were some injustices involved."

"They appealed to Zhang Jiangling for justice several times, but all their efforts fell on deaf ears, so they had no choice but to resort to this last resort."

Ru Shi is the courtesy name of Zhao Yongxian, and Zidao is the courtesy name of Wu Zhongxing. Both were Shujishi in the fifth year of Longqing.

They are also heroes of Southern Zhili.

They were also good brothers who successively impeached Zhang Juzheng in history, and were then beaten in court and dismissed from office together.

Seeing that Li Sancai was vague in his words, Gu Xiancheng also understood that since there were outsiders present, it was not easy to elaborate.

He had no choice but to suppress the thought and wait to ask again later.

Li Kun still had a confused look on his face as he followed the two men into the manor.

The stone bridges, rockery, pavilions and waterside terraces in the manor are elegant in style, making it a great place for scholars to gather.

The three of them chatted along the way.

Gu Xiancheng casually reminisced about the past.

Li Sancai occasionally tested Li Kun's knowledge.

Li Kun is very conventional and keeps his point.

"Shushi, Brother Lu's knowledge is far more profound than yours. In my opinion, you will serve as a foil for the two of us in this examination."

Li Sancai tried to ease the atmosphere, clapping his hands and laughing.

When there are many people around, it has almost become Li Sancai's instinct to try to mention the majority of people in his speech.

It is easy to tell which people to praise and which people to ridicule.

Gu Xiancheng naturally did not refute, but spread his hands and said: "I was the last in the imperial examination this year, so naturally I cannot compare with the two prospective Jinshi."

"Let me get familiar with the examination room and wait for three years before following in your footsteps."

Upon hearing this, Li Kun smiled bitterly and begged for mercy, "I'm almost forty years old, why are you still teasing me?"

After saying that, he waved his hands repeatedly.

The three of them smiled at the same time.

Just a joke, the atmosphere became a little more lively.

Li Sancai brought up another topic that every candidate was concerned about: "You two know that last month, Zhu Nanyong, the Minister of Rites, submitted a memorial outlining the main issues of the imperial examination."

As soon as these words fell, the two of them looked at Li Sancai with serious expressions.

Li Kun was particularly serious - he came here eagerly to eat this meal, wasn't it just to hear some pre-exam information like this?
Li Sancai did not keep the secret and said bluntly: "During the Longqing period, Gao Yi of the Ministry of Rites petitioned the late emperor because the writing was extravagant, and he requested that the title be limited to about 600 words."

"However, after the past two examinations, the scholars have been too eager to be brief, to be thorny, and to be too skilled."

"Therefore, Zhu Nanyong of the Rites Department submitted a memorial requesting that Your Majesty abolish the character limit."

Li Kun and Gu Xiancheng looked at each other.

This is no small matter. The structure and techniques of a 600-word article are completely different from those of an article with no word limit.

If I had prepared according to the previous 600 words, it would have been completely counterproductive.

Why do students come to Beijing to prepare for the exam in advance? Isn't it because of this kind of thing?

If I wait for the imperial edict and then prepare for the exam at the local level, wouldn’t that be a waste of two months?
Li Kun asked, "Is this true?"

After hearing this, Li Sancai couldn't help but praise him: "Otherwise, how can we say that Lord Nanyu is so noble and dignified? He is indeed a dignified elder."

"When someone wanted to overturn the proposal he made, he not only did not interfere, but even admitted in front of His Majesty during the court discussion that his previous thinking was not appropriate."

"Now the limit has been changed to 1,500 words."

When Gu Xiancheng heard this, he couldn't help but smile.

The more words there are, the more skills can be shown off, which is especially good news for a student like him who has mastered techniques from various schools and is not just good at hooking.

"Besides this, your majesty has said that the most important thing is to make the writing clear and logical, to be relevant to the current situation, and to have substance."

Li Kun raised his eyebrows and took a breath subconsciously.

Gu Xiancheng's reaction was even greater. He suddenly clapped his hands and yelled, "Good!"

The two were startled by the sudden strange cry.

Gu Xiancheng quickly apologized, saying in a hateful voice: "The followers of Yangming should have been killed long ago!"

Li Kun was very confused.

Didn’t Gu Xiancheng say on the road that his teacher was Zhang Qi, and that he also studied the philosophy of mind?
Why are you still shouting for fighting and killing?
Li Sancai, who was standing by, kindly explained: "Until he was 20 years old, he studied under Master Zhang. After he was 20, he studied under Master Xue Yingqi."

Li Kun suddenly realized.

This is not surprising.

Xue Yingqi was a famous Confucian scholar of his time, and had the potential to be included in the Hangzhou Xianci Temple and be enshrined alongside Bai Juyi and Su Shi.

He was very famous among the Confucian scholars, especially in Southern Zhili and Zhejiang.

Although he belonged to the Wang School of Nanzhong and also the School of Mind, he suddenly turned to the Cheng-Zhu School more than ten years ago.

Today he has become a Confucian scholar who opposes empty talk of conscience and advocates pragmatism.

Gu Xiancheng studied under this person and must have been influenced by him.

However, Gu Xiancheng shook his head and said, "It has nothing to do with academics. I just can't get used to the world where morals are declining and people's hearts are no longer as they used to be."

Since the Great Ceremony Debate, the scholar-officials have gradually become languid.

Above.

Emperor Shizong was extremely greedy, Emperor Muzong was lazy in state affairs, and now Zhang Juzheng was monopolizing power. From childhood to now, Gu Xiancheng has felt that the officials and scholars who come and go in his family are becoming more and more depressed and negative.

After Yan Song, Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng entered the cabinet, the problems of currying favor with the prime minister and forming cliques for personal gain became more and more serious, and the entire officialdom was filled with an atmosphere of corruption and decadence.

Below.

The sage Wang Shouren could not escape the fate of being annotated by the Six Classics, and his doctrines gradually evolved into a bohemian and unruly state.

Since the Jiajing period, a wave of unhealthy trends advocating extravagance, doing whatever one wants, and the so-called "straightforward freedom" have been constantly transgressing moral ethics.

Just as he said a few years ago - "Now the world is in turmoil, and everything from top to bottom is done by eyes and ears. The customs of scholars are declining, and propriety, righteousness, integrity and shame are about to disappear. Whenever the three of us talk about this, we sigh or cry at each other."

At this time, if no one still defends justice, where is justice! ?
Therefore, praising the emperor has nothing to do with whether one’s teacher is the School of Mind or the School of Principle.

He was just praising the move to promote orthodox learning and correct social trends.

He said that this level is not enough.

When he passes the imperial examination and enters the officialdom, sooner or later he will clarify the administration of officials and improve customs!
At that time, court officials no longer need to curry favor with the prime minister, they can speak freely and will not be punished for their words.

The students of Shilin are no longer unruly and they talk about benevolence, righteousness, and morality all day long.

That is when there are many wise men and righteous people in the court.

However, with Li Kun around, Gu Xiancheng only mentioned the topic briefly to avoid going into details.

Li Sancai never lets things go cold, and he took over Gu Xiancheng's words very lightly: "Now your majesty really has a virtue of beautifying customs."

Gu Xiancheng turned his head curiously: "Oh?"

Li Sancai smiled and said, "Your Majesty not only demoted Li Zaiting to Fujian as an official, but also invited Wang Shizhen, the Duke of Yanzhou, to accompany him."

Although Li Zaiting was a seventh-rank official, he wore a red robe.

But the noble censors are different from the local officials.

The so-called "Six Departments of the Imperial Court promoted officials to the fourth rank in the inner court and the third rank in the outer court. In the outer court, the seventh rank was the third rank, which was also a special honor for officials, but many people disliked it. Therefore, there is a saying that if an official is promoted seven levels, his power will be reduced ten thousand times."

Being promoted to a higher position is considered shameful.

Not only did they lose a lot of momentum by complaining, but some people were even more angry and spread rumors to insult the Ministry of Personnel.

What’s more, it is the Personnel Department - “Only those in the Personnel Department are mostly promoted to the capital”, and this is no joke.

After hearing this, Gu Xiancheng burst into laughter: "This flatterer is so degrading!"

Among these scholars, Li Zaiting's image is no different from that of Yan Song.

Demotion? Abandonment is the best!
After venting his anger, Gu Xiancheng immediately calmed down and asked, "Duke Yanzhou has come to the capital? Then won't there be frequent literary gatherings in the capital in the future?"

Wang Shizhen’s literary gathering is very important.

It is the second best way for scholars to become famous nowadays.

As for the first one.

That is, submit an article to Wang Shizhen and let him comment on it, so that the whole world will know about it immediately - Wang Xijue often wrote articles to Wang Shizhen, boasting about his sons, nephews and brothers, to help him become famous.

What's more, Wang Shizhen is an object of admiration among scholars all over the world.

Gu Xiancheng immediately put Yan Song II out of his mind and asked about Wang Shizhen.

Li Sancai nodded, "Yes, but the Duke of Yanzhou said that in order to prevent delays in the examinations for the candidates, he plans to invite candidates from all over the country to hold a large literary gathering a few days after the Spring Examination."

What a grand event!
After hearing this, Gu Xiancheng immediately thought of the scene in his mind where he would be the most powerful and the center of attention.

I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed.

He murmured, "That's good. There are still some scholars who haven't entered the capital yet. One day after the Spring Examination, candidates from all over the country will gather in the capital, waiting for the announcement of the results. By then, I'm afraid most of them will go to participate in the celebration."

Li Sancai also nodded with a longing look.

As expected of him, he is the Duke of Yanzhou, the number one person in the world in forming societies. He always chooses such a good time to hold literary meetings.

When candidates from all over the world gather together, that is the real fame!

This time, we must ask for advice from others so that we can run our association successfully in the future!

Li Kun stood aside, deep in thought.

Literary gatherings... since when did it become a matter of saying the more people there are, the better?
In the past, weren't these performances exclusively for the children of famous teachers? When have you ever seen these old scholars?
The more Li Kun thought about it, the more he felt something was not right.

However, he was not here to gossip. After thinking about it, he brought up something more important: "I wonder how many scholars in this subject can stay in the capital."

The number of places for each subject is not fixed. Since this is the first subject after the new emperor ascended the throne, there may be more places.

This is a disguised way of asking Li Sancai.

Li Sancai couldn't help but laugh when he heard this: "Long Fei is the first candidate in the imperial examination, so there will be a large number of candidates. The Ministry of Rites has already..."

The three of you said something to me.

Gradually walking away, only the stone bridge and rockery remained motionless, and the flowers, plants and trees swayed in the wind.

……

At this moment, the eyes of all officials were focused on the Wenhua Palace and its surroundings.

I am bowing down to the sky!
The last time was when Gao Gong and Feng Bao were fighting, and Zhang Shouyue was forced to kneel outside the Meridian Gate to make a report.

Now Zhang Shouyue is still living in Daozhou in retirement.

I heard that Zhang Shouyue wrote poetry all day long and lamented that his career was not going well.

This time, more than a dozen scholars and imperial scholars were lying in ambush outside the Wenhua Palace. The incident happened suddenly and the court officials did not know what was going on.

They all pretended to pass by, wanting to see what was going on.

In the open space outside Wenhua Hall.

Zhao Yongxian, Wu Zhongxing and others had been kneeling for an hour.

The emperor and the cabinet remained indifferent.

Even after the court discussion was over, there was no sign of the emperor or the cabinet stepping in to deal with the matter.

The most strange thing is that, not to mention sending an eunuch to persuade them, at least the Jinyiwei should come out to drive them away, right?

As a result, there was no persuasion, not even a beating in court.

There was only a group of people kneeling outside the Wenhua Hall, feeling confused.

Zhao Yongxian has been sitting with his forehead touching the ground for an hour. His legs and feet are fine, but his waist is a little uncomfortable.

A cold wind blew, and it felt cold again.

The voice of Wu Zhongxing beside him came into my ears.

"The court meeting has been over for quite some time, why hasn't Your Majesty come out yet?"

They were kneeling here before the court meeting, just to make things bigger.

Logically speaking, both the emperor and the cabinet should deal with the matter as quickly as possible in order to eliminate the impact.

Zhao Yongxian buried his head, not moving at all, and whispered, "I suspect that His Majesty is not aware of this matter. Now he is either trying to understand the inside story, or he is furious and discussing countermeasures."

It would be fine if it were outsiders, but those of them who graduated from the Hanlin Academy have some understanding of the emperor.

The emperor would most likely take care of matters like this.

At the same time, he also had the reputation to bypass the cabinet and meet with them.

This is also the reason why they chose to bow down in the Wenhua Palace.

Wu Zhongxing sighed and said, "The right and wrong are clear at a glance. Since the Prime Minister is stubborn and self-willed, and has deceived the emperor, we have no choice but to do this in order to let Your Majesty put things right."

"After all, Xiong Dunpu was wronged for no reason. How innocent is he?"

Some things, once they enter the process, are difficult to correct.

Getting Shangguan to admit his mistake is harder than climbing to heaven.

But since Zhang Juzheng did this, don't blame them for making things bigger. Let Your Majesty and the court officials judge for themselves.

Of course, whether Zhang Juzheng was also deceived was not within their consideration - it must have been intentional!
The two of them knelt on the ground, foreheads touching the ground, and whispered to each other.

Zhao Yongxian said firmly: "No matter what, we must seek justice for Xiong Dunpu today."

Wu Zhong moved his waist and muttered, "Fortunately, I have knee pads, so kneeling for a whole day is not a problem."

"It's just a little cold."

As soon as he finished speaking, a gust of cold wind blew past.

They both shuddered.

Zhao Yongxian was about to speak.

Just at this time.

The sound of footsteps rang in the ears of the two.

When they realized that they were walking down the stairs from the Wenhua Hall, they both couldn't help showing their joy.

The emperor finally couldn't bear it anymore!

This godsend opportunity is just the right time to teach Zhang Juzheng a lesson.

Just thinking about it.

"Dear scholars, we are here at the behest of your majesty."

Zhao Yongxian, Wu Zhongxing, and even the dozen or so Shujishi and Hanlin scholars behind them, all raised their heads slightly.

They glanced over secretly and frowned when they saw only a few eunuchs' feet.

The emperor doesn't show up, so he just sends a eunuch to get rid of them?

Seeing that everyone was getting ready to move, Li Jin quickly stretched out his hand and said, "No need to stand up."

He smiled and said, "His Majesty said that he still has to attend the imperial lectures and his studies are more important. He has no time to listen to your complaints right now."

"Please wait for a moment. His Majesty will summon you after class."

After saying that, he waved his hand.

The young eunuchs behind him each put the cloak in their hands on several Shujishi and Hanlin one by one.

Zhao Yongxian and Wu Zhongxing led an expedition.

They all said in surprise: "Eunuch Li..."

Li Jin interrupted the two.

He smiled and said, "It's cold today, you all should take some rest. You've been sitting in the palace for so long, I'm afraid your hands and feet are cold."

"Your Majesty has compassion for his subjects and asked me to give you some extra clothes."

Zhao Yongxian and Wu Zhongxing looked at each other, and their eyes were filled with unexpected surprise.

……

Wenhua Hall, during the imperial lecture.

The Imperial Lecture is the autumn lecture held in August, which is suspended until the second day of October.

But because the cabinet was too busy, a few classes were suspended and the course was postponed for half a month.

At this time, the emperor, who was being imprisoned, was neither furious nor hesitant.

Even people in the palace were not discussing what was happening outside, but were instead attending class seriously.

Zhu Yijun sat upright, listening attentively to the instructions.

"The reason why the ancient sages, when faced with difficult situations and changes in human relations, had a way to deal with them well is that it is obvious that the most important thing for a son to do in his service to his parents is to inherit the ancestral temple, and the lesser thing is to provide for and support them. Therefore, the ancestral temple must be entrusted to someone who is in charge of the sacrifice, and only then can the spirits of the ancestors be comforted and the hearts of the parents be pleased. Those who govern the world with filial piety value the body and promote it."

Zhang Juzheng had a stern expression. He looked at the emperor seriously and spoke word by word.

The daily lecturer took notes and placed them in front of the little emperor.

The little emperor usually looked at his notes and listened carefully.

From time to time, he draws inferences from one example to another: "Sir, I understand."

"For example, Emperor Yao married his two daughters to Shun, who immediately obeyed Yao's order without going back to consult his parents."

"Shun did this because he was worried that if he told his parents they would not agree, he would not be able to marry, and he would end up having no offspring."

"Marrying after informing parents is to comply with their wishes and not to make a decision on one's own. This is a basic requirement of etiquette and law. Marrying without informing parents is to ensure the continuation of clan sacrifices and to avoid being childless."

"Shun's flexible application of filial piety is also Shun's own practice!"

“No wonder the saints all say that the most filial emperor in ancient and modern times is Shun!”

Tao Dalin looked at the master and his apprentice, who were teaching and listening to the lecture as if nothing had happened, and couldn't help but admire them.

It would have been fine if he was just the prime minister, but I didn’t expect that the emperor also had such a serious temperament.

He glanced outside the Wenhua Hall without leaving a trace.

Such a big thing happened in Fuque, but they acted as if it never happened.

Has he been lying in wait outside for an hour?
If you knew that the emperor was still studying seriously, would you be relieved or angry?
After the emperor learned from his experience, all his ministers praised him highly.

Tao Dalin came back to his senses and quickly gave a perfunctory compliment - after getting used to complimenting, everyone now compliments in a formulaic manner.

Zhang Juzheng's expression was more reserved.

He just nodded seriously, and even warned the emperor to be humble, to proceed step by step, and not to be impetuous.

Zhu Yijun was accustomed to Zhang Juzheng's harshness, and he also understood to some extent how his predecessor became so rebellious.

They are indeed Chinese parents.

He smiled and nodded in agreement, then said, "Sir, I understand what Mencius said."

"However, the students have other doubts."

As soon as these words fell.

Tao Dalin quietly took a step back.

Again.

Now the two people in the cabinet take turns on duty, taking time out of their busy schedules to teach the emperor.

This was because ever since the emperor's knowledge had advanced, his doubts could no longer be easily answered by the daily lecturers - the questions were too profound, and often involved the foundations of Confucianism and Legalism, the lifeblood of the country.

This is also why the imperial lectures have to be postponed if the cabinet is too busy.

Apart from Zhang Juzheng and Gao Yi, no one else is qualified to answer this question.

Zhang Juzheng suffered even more and had a deep understanding of this.

He rarely showed a reluctant expression, and his face twitched for a moment before he said dryly, "Your Majesty, please speak."

Zhu Yijun first stood up and bowed to Zhang Juzheng.

Then he said respectfully: "Teacher, you just said that those who govern the world with filial piety should attach importance to the body and promote it."

A monarch who governs the world with filial piety should practice it himself and promote filial piety.

Zhu Yijun paused and asked curiously, "Excuse me, sir, does our dynasty also rule the world with filial piety?"

　For the content of the Jingyan class, for Zhang Juzheng, he usually uses "Straight Explanations of the Four Books", and for Gao Yi, he uses "Collected Works of Gao Wenduan". Some of the male characters were written by me, and some were supplemented, so I will not explain and quote them one by one.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)