Chapter 151 Time flies, bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new

The 20th day of the twelfth lunar month is the Great Cold.

There are still nine days until New Year’s Eve. The weather is freezing cold and all things are dormant. It is also the day to get rid of the old and start the new.

As a warm-up for the Chinese New Year, the Dahan sacrifice is not very grand. Usually people just gather at home to worship the kitchen god and the year-end party.

Of course, family happiness is good, but when you are away from home, you can only go to a restaurant to have a bite to eat and satisfy your sense of ritual.

Especially for Li Kun who went to Beijing to take the imperial examination, after two months of hard study, it was just the right time to have a good meal and make up for the nutrition he lacked.

He was short of money and had no intention of choosing a fancy restaurant, so he just wandered around the side alleys.

I happened to see a mutton soup restaurant with a sign at the door - 30% discount for candidates who pass the imperial examination this year.

Li Kun was delighted and immediately walked into the store.

The space inside the store is not big, but it is neatly arranged. There are several long wooden tables placed everywhere, and the benches on the side look obviously old.

Li Kun stood at the threshold and took a deep sniff, taking in the scent of herbs and meat.

"Hey, sir, please come in."

The waiter was afraid that the shop was not old enough to be a century-old one, so he spoke in a particularly authentic way.

Li Kun took out a membership card from his pocket, asked for a 30% discount, and was about to order some food.

Suddenly I heard someone calling me from behind.

"Uncle Jian! Here! Look behind!"

Li Kun felt that the voice sounded familiar and turned around subconsciously.

Li Kun quickly saw a familiar face as he passed by the diners sitting in groups around the table.

The same examinee who took the imperial examination was Li Du.

In front of him was a bowl of mutton soup, one and a half large pancakes, and in his hand was a new newspaper.

Li Kun smiled immediately upon seeing this and walked to Li Du's desk: "I never thought it would be such a coincidence that I would meet Si Zhi when I came out for a bite to eat."

Unlike Gu Xiancheng's group of proud sons, Li Du did not form cliques and their relationships were more pure.

Without the worry of getting into trouble, Li Kun was still willing to make friends with Li Du - just for the name, and to get some exposure to his talent.

Li Du folded up the new newspaper and put it on the stool beside him, then looked at Li Kun and said with a smile, "It's just that we are both poor and sick, and we are both tempted by the 70% discount."

Li Kun couldn't help laughing when he heard this: "He is poor and sick at the same time, but his mind is really sharp."

The two smiled at each other, and Li Du extended his hand to invite Li Kun to sit with him. "Besides that, I also heard that the top-ranking Jinshi in the previous exams, such as Shen Gong and Yu Gong, are mostly repeat customers of this restaurant. Since I want to take advantage of their talents, I must take advantage of them thoroughly."

It is normal for stores to come up with some gimmicks in order to capture the customer flow that comes once every three years.

Especially the restaurants outside the major guild halls, most of them are consecrated by a certain Taoist priest, blessed by a certain deity, and have been patronized by many Jinshi scholars in the past.

On the contrary, the restaurant below is where Shen Shixing often eats, so it cannot be fake.

Li Kun sat down calmly and ordered some dishes from the waiter. Then he turned around and said, "Sizhi is obviously an open-minded person who has no intention of pursuing a career in politics. Why is he still obsessed with it?"

Li Du is a very special person.

If someone says that they have no interest in a career in politics, they are simply pretending to be crazy or stupid. Otherwise, what would they try to do if they come here eagerly?
But Li Du was different. He was Yu Dayou's aide. He came to Beijing just to do things for Dong Weng and to take the imperial examination.

He had publicly stated that even if he passed the imperial examination, he would resign and return to Fujian to continue working for Yu Dayou.

That's why Li Kun said that he was open-minded and shouldn't do such things as praying before taking exams.

But Li Du smiled and shook his head when he heard this: "Shu Jian is wrong. Although I have no intention of pursuing a career in government, becoming a Jinshi is exactly what I am obsessed with."

Li Kun was very supportive and showed a curious look: "Why is this?"

Li Du did not hide anything and he sighed as he continued, "Nowadays, the world values ​​civil officials over military ones. Even though I am Governor Yu of the East, who has made great military achievements and is feared by the southeast, I am often humiliated by a lowly official."

"What those villains rely on is nothing more than their Jinshi background."

"As an aide to the emperor, I cannot change the general trend of the world, so I thought I might as well take the imperial examination and bring honor to my father-in-law."

"When I meet someone who talks about my superiority in literature and martial arts, I can use myself as an excuse."

Li Du was from Jinjiang, Fujian. He was a die-hard fan of Yu Dayou, who had done a lot of good for Fujian.

Whether it is his own work "Records of the Achievements and Deeds of General Yu, the Governor of Xujiang during the Expedition to the Barbarians" or his assistance to Yu Dayou in revising "Zhengqitang Collection", one can see his heartfelt admiration for him.

Li Kun had read this person's writings and naturally understood what kind of person Li Du was - otherwise, the two of them would not have been so close.

However, this statement involves current problems, and many people have different opinions on it.

Li Kun, in order to avoid trouble, said politely, "One is civil and the other is military, we can't say which is more important. I heard that in the middle of the month, His Majesty appointed a military official to the Wenhua Palace to participate in the court discussion. It can be seen that the central government also understands the principle of combining civil and military affairs."

This is a strange thing.

It was actually the Ministry of Rites that took the lead.

The Minister of Rites Ma Ziqiang, together with the Vice Minister of Personnel, submitted a memorial, stating that since the Jiajing period, the Japanese pirates, Tatars, Oirat, Duman, and even the Jurchens had become increasingly restless, the pressure on border defense and military affairs had gradually increased, and the number of court discussions on military affairs had also increased.

However, in the repeated court meetings, they could only repeat the same old things in response to the memorials submitted by the border generals.

Without military experience, it is impossible to hit the nail on the head when discussing military affairs.

If that is the case, why not call the Governor of the Capital Camp, who holds the highest military rank in the capital, to the court meeting to discuss the matter together?

Moreover, according to the ancestral laws, it is in accordance with the system of etiquette and law to establish a military advisor.

Li Kun didn't know whether the official was surprised by this, but as expected, he was shocked when he heard it for the first time.

This was the most appropriate time to use it to smooth things over for Li Du, who were dissatisfied with the government.

After hearing this, Li Du shook his head secretly.

If there was really no difference between civil and military officials, Yu Dayou would not have been demoted and sent home in July of the fifth year of Longqing's reign by a letter of impeachment from the inspector Li Liangchen.

A first-rank official position immediately became worthless just because it was a military position of a governor. It might even be lower than a seventh-rank county magistrate.

But there is something true in what Li Kun said.

The recent situation in the central government has indeed been unpredictable and difficult to understand.

Whether it is the appointment of the Governor of the Beijing Camp, Gu Huan, to the court to discuss military affairs, or the mobilization of the Beijing Camp to garrison in all directions in the second half of the year, or even the extraordinary promotion of Ji and Liao.

It makes people feel that the central government's actions are different from before.

Of course, what puzzled Li Du the most was that at the beginning of last year, Zhang Siwei and Yang Bo successively submitted memorials requesting the reinstatement of Yu Dayou. What exactly happened?

The two parties are not familiar with each other.

It was strange that this matter was brought up by Zhang and Yang, two people who were completely unfamiliar with each other.

Things became even stranger after Yu Dayou's comeback.

After Yu Dayou went to Fujian, the central government did not give him any clear orders, and the Fujian Governor Yin Congjian continued to suppress Yu Dayou, not giving him any people or food, making him no different from an idle master.

Li Du, who was originally an aide to Yu Dayou, also suggested that they should get in touch with the "sponsors" Zhang Siwei and Yang Bo and ask for help, so that Yu Dayou could continue to lead the troops to fight.

After the letters went back and forth, it was discovered that both sponsors had returned to their hometowns.

There was no other way, Yu Dayou had to adjust his mentality and continue to sit on the bench in Fujian.

But last month, there was another unexpected turn of events. A demoted official from Beijing came to visit and asked Yu Dayou to assist him in rebuilding the Maritime Customs in accordance with the emperor's order.

This is nothing!
The emperor hasn't taken power yet, who are you trying to scare with his decree?

Now, Yu Dayou and Li Du thought that this might involve a major struggle within the central government, so they dared not act rashly.

He had no choice but to pretend to be submissive while sending Li Du to the capital to find out what was going on there.

It always takes some time to get information.

The most cost-effective way and the most reasonable reason to stay is to take the imperial examination.

Because the topic was sensitive, the two of them tacitly stopped talking about it for a while.

Just at this moment, the waiter brought Li Kun's food.

Li Kun politely took it and changed the subject without leaving any trace: "Just now I saw Sizhi reading a newspaper? Is there any news recently?"

The word news originated from newspapers.

Dichao is not considered a newspaper, as it is for officials to read. Only those aimed at the general public are called newspapers.

The earliest rise of private newspapers was in the early Song Dynasty - "People like novelties and are curious, and all regard tabloids as a source of light."

The output was so fast that “one piece of paper a day” was produced, and the sales were so wide that “one spread to ten, ten spread to a hundred, and finally reached all the prefectures, counties, and supervisors.”

You can see how hot it is.

But privately-run newspapers must be banned, not only "strictly banned"! But also "punished and rewarded"!
There was no other way. Newspapers were not allowed to be published, so they changed their name to news.

When the police came to arrest people, the scholars and officials felt justified and said, "This is news, not tabloid."

This is how the word news came into being.

Of course, this situation improved a lot during the Ming Dynasty.

Not only was public publication allowed among the public - in addition to reprinting articles from official accounts, some insignificant news could also be published, such as "The wife of Zhang Benhua, a resident of Yingshan County, Suizhou, Huguang, gave birth to a three-inch-long beard", or "A cow in the home of Wang, a resident of Huojia County, Weihui Prefecture, Henan, gave birth to a calf with two heads", etc.

Even after the new emperor ascended the throne, the Ministry of Public Administration still published tabloids openly, all in vernacular, specifically for the common people to read.

Although Li Kun and Li Du were scholars, they could only read the official newspapers that they could not afford, and they honestly threw themselves into the arms of the new newspapers.

Li Kun asked what news there was, just to change the subject.

But when Li Du heard this, his expression seemed a little strange.

He replied in a tone that was both stifling laughter and gloating: "This issue of the newspaper hasn't come out yet. It's the last issue. I'm just thinking about what mess Gu Xiancheng and his gang made."

After saying that, he casually handed over the newspaper beside him.

Li Kun has been deliberately distancing himself from Gu Xiancheng these days and has not been in contact with him much. Naturally, he has not taken the initiative to inquire about his gossip.

He asked casually, "Damage?"

Li Du nodded, but did not answer. He just pointed to the front page of the Xin Bao in the upper left corner and said with a smile: "Read this article first."

Li Kun looked at the place Li Du had pointed to.

There is a line of big, square characters reading “A Brief Discussion on the Expressions of “Force””.

Li Kun's first reaction was confusion. What the hell is this? Let's put it in plain language. To put it bluntly, he totally couldn't understand what the title was trying to express.

With a strange mentality, Li Kun continued to look down.

Fortunately, the content is 100% plain language.

"The ancient wise man Mozi once said, 'Force is the reason why the shape is excited.' What does it mean? It means that the thing that can make an object move is named 'force'."

"This is a discussion by a wise man on the nature of force. I am not a wise man, and I cannot fully understand it, nor do I have the wisdom to think about the nature of force."

"But even though I am an ordinary person, I have come up with some thoughts based on my curiosity about these things, and that is 'the manifestation of force'."

“It may not be correct, but I am sharing it with you for discussion.”

"I come from a farming family, and I see the waterwheel irrigating the fields every year. I clearly didn't touch it, so why did the waterwheel turn on its own? It's because of the water!"

"The waterwheel itself is stationary, but when water is introduced, the water hits the waterwheel, generating 'force' that makes the waterwheel turn."

"Not only that, it seems that the greater the force applied, the faster the waterwheel turns. Does this mean that the greater the force, the faster the speed?" "The same is true for the wood I push, the carriage pulled by the horse, and so on."

“The use of force has long been present in every aspect of life.”

"Well, I have made some simple summaries of these things."

"First, the object itself is stationary. It will only move when it is subjected to a force."

"Secondly, for force to be generated, the object itself must be exerted with force by another object."

“Third, the greater the force, the faster the change in motion.”

The main body of the article ends here.

After reading it, the confusion on Li Kun's face not only did not ease, but became even more serious.

No, how could this kind of thing be published in the newspaper of the Ministry of Public Security?
He looked at it from all angles, but couldn't see any nutritional value in it.

The signature of the text is a person named Liu Sanpao, who obviously came from a humble background, and his peasant background mentioned in the text is also confirmed.

Below the main text, there are several lines of comments, which are even marked in a different font as a reminder.

"Liu Sanpao's thinking has given me some insights into 'force', but at the same time, my doubts have deepened."

"First, if the object itself should be stationary, then why does the bird in the sky fall to the ground after it stops moving? Is there a force at work here?"

“There are many questions like this. I hope my classmates can keep up the good work and design experiments to answer them for me.”

"Secondly, if the generation of force must be exerted by another object, then as I just said, what about the bird falling from the sky? What object exerted the force?"

"Similarly, although water flow can make the waterwheel move, so can wind. Is the invisible and immaterial wind also an 'object'?"

"Finally, as I said, it's a little hard to tell what an object is. Are thoughts, feelings, and gazes considered objects?"

“I hope to be able to describe the concepts involved in a categorized way, so that the same things can be grouped together, and different things can be distinguished from each other.”

“It’s like counting.”

"Regarding this idea, I will tentatively name it 'taxonomy' or 'set theory'. I hope that knowledgeable people can gradually improve it and give it a name as appropriate."

However, these lines of comments were not signed with the author's real name, leaving only the elegant title "Chang Wei Jushi".

Li Kun raised his head and cast a questioning look at Li Du.

No, has the Ministry of Public Administration now used public property for private purposes to this extent?

Which young master is this, who doesn't study classical knowledge but openly publishes such nonsense in the Xin Bao?

Li Du seemed to have expected this and explained considerately: "The signature on the annotation is your majesty's pseudonym."

Li Kun was shocked and suddenly realized.

He was also asking which young master it was, and it turned out to be the young master at the top.

No wonder they dare to do things so brazenly.

Li Kun forced a smile: "Your Majesty is truly a natural and authentic person."

Children's curiosity is naturally something that can be praised.

Li Du smiled in silence.

He waved his hand, believing what Li Kun said, and then he said, "I didn't know at first. Of course, not only me, but also Gu Chengxian and his group didn't know either."

It was obvious that he wanted to explain what he had just said and what kind of trouble Gu Chengxian had caused.

Li Kun pricked up his ears and made up his mind not to speak easily.

Li Du just said, "Three days ago, Gu Xiancheng, who was taught by a famous teacher, held a poetry meeting at Shenmiao Temple. The theme of the meeting was 'Poetry must be from the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, and anything else will not be discussed.'"

Li Kun nodded. The current poetry world is like this. "The Song people seem old but are actually sparse and bland. The Yuan people seem elegant but are actually shallow and vulgar." As for the Ming Dynasty? There is no poetry in the Ming Dynasty.

This is a retro literary trend that has been going on for many years.

Since they were all learned people, Li Du did not explain and continued, "When it comes to the restoration of the past, it is inevitable that the literary gathering will discuss the current problems, and the arguments that people's hearts are no longer the same as before and the world is in decline."

"We should broadcast moral articles, promote the ancient moral principles, and return to the prosperous times of the Three Sovereigns, Han and Tang dynasties."

"But as the criticisms went on, some ignorant person started saying that this newspaper was one of the sinners that corrupted the morals of the world instead of spreading the classics of the saints."

"What Liu Sanpao, the old man who lives in Changwei, is a despicable and vulgar person. If I see him in the future, I will definitely slap him on the cheek."

puff.

At this point, even though Li Kun was so calm and steady, he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Criticize the emperor three times and spit in his face, right?

No wonder these people are unlucky.

If it were any other time, it would be fine. Cursing the emperor is a normal thing, not to mention that it was an unintentional act. But now there is still more than a month left, so I will try it.

If these people were banned from taking the test because of this, they would have to waste three years.

Li Kun felt fortunate for a moment that after arriving in Beijing he did not hang out with Gu Xiancheng, who liked to form gangs.

But he changed his mind.

I remembered that what Li Du had just said happened three days ago.

Since there is no movement at the moment, there should be no trouble. Otherwise, punishing students is a very sensitive issue before the exam and will definitely cause a lot of controversy.

He thought to himself and asked, "Your Majesty is known for your generosity. Your Majesty should not bother with them, right?"

Li Du nodded happily, obviously things were not that simple.

He explained: "The emperor is naturally magnanimous, but it is precisely because of this that people will become more demanding."

Li Kun's face became more and more interested: "What do you mean?"

Li Du smiled and said, "There are many people participating in this literary gathering, including Wan Jing, the grandson of Wan Gong, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works."

"Wan Jing left in high spirits, just to have fun, but he didn't expect this to happen, and he ended up cursing the emperor without knowing what was going on."

"When he found out, his face turned green!"

"Then he drew a line in the sand for Gu Xiancheng, scolded everyone, and ran into the palace to apologize to the emperor."

He wiped his mouth halfway through his words and then reached out to stroke his beard which he had not stroked for a long time.

This cannot be blamed on Minister Wan’s grandson for being disloyal.

It's fine for others, but the sons and nephews of the fourth-rank officials and above in this year's exams are personally reviewed by the emperor! It would be a piece of cake for them to be dismissed by the emperor at that time.

As one of the seven nephews of officials who passed the imperial examination this year, Wan Jing naturally wanted to distance himself from the matter.

Li Kun quickly asked: "And then?"

Li Du smiled and said, "How could Gu Xiancheng tolerate being scolded like that?"

"He insisted that he was not targeting people, but the issue, and that he was criticizing the current situation because he cared about the country. His Majesty was not doing his job properly. Although their words were inappropriate, their intentions were good."

"On the contrary, Wan Jing also criticized the emperor at that time, but when he heard that it was the emperor's signature, he immediately changed his words. It is obvious that he is a treacherous villain."

"Not only that."

"He also gathered members and asked senior officials in Southern Zhili to endorse him, preparing to establish a Donglin Journal in imitation of the Tongzhengsi's Xinbao and Wang Shizhen's Yanshantang Wenbao."

"It aims to change the social trends and influence people with moral articles."

"Of course... the first thing is to criticize the emperor's nonsense in the new newspaper."

After hearing this, Li Kun broke out in sweat.

This is not just making a mess, this is a huge mistake.

Yes, the emperor was indeed too idle and indulged in strange and licentious tricks.

But is that something that these little people can say? Can the court still be without ministers and censors?
This is not only the creation of a newspaper, but also the organization of public petitions. By then, I am afraid that the criticism of "having wrong views, no knowledge of the political system, and being ridiculous" would be the least of my worries.

Fortunately, I didn't hang out with Gu Xiancheng and others.

"I heard that Gu Xiancheng has invited Zeng Gun, a doctor of the Five Classics in the Hanlin Academy, to be the editor of the newspaper. He is planning to publish the newspaper during the one-month holiday for the New Year."

Li Du suddenly spoke.

Li Kun was startled, as if he remembered something, and confirmed: "Is he a descendant of Zengzi?"

Li Du nodded: "It's just a figurehead. I heard that he even went to the Kong family to invite someone."

He squinted his eyes and took another sip of the soup with satisfaction.

He looked like he was watching the fun.

……

At the same time, in Wenhua Palace.

Zhu Yijun signaled Zhang Hong to circulate the reviewed memorial to the ministers.

Of course, it was not an important memorial, but just a process of going through the New Year holiday.

Grand Secretaries Zhang Juzheng and Gao Yi submitted a memorial requesting that the New Year's Eve holiday should begin on December 24 of this year, and that the New Year's Day and Lantern Festival holidays should be continued until the 20th day of the first lunar month of the new year.

At first glance, the winter vacation seems a bit long, and Zhu Yijun was somewhat reluctant in marking the papers.

But there was no way. This was the custom of the dynasty. If the New Year celebrations didn't even last for 25 days, wouldn't Zhu Yijun be worse than a feudal antique?
So he approved it in court.

This is the last thing on the morning court. Once it’s approved, it’s time to adjourn.

A group of court officials left one after another.

However, all the assistant ministers, the six ministers, the Chief Censor, and the Chief Secretaries of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Finance did not move at all.

Apparently the emperor had a small meeting to attend, and it was not the turn of the officials from the Taichang Temple, the Honglu Temple, or the Imperial College.

However, the ministers did not care too much - there were still three days of holiday, and after a year of fighting for power, it was time to slow down and relax.

When most of the people had left, Zhu Yijun, who was sitting on the throne, spoke up: "I'm keeping you here for nothing important."

He paused, and continued, "The New Year is coming soon. I think that you and I, the king and the minister, should make a summary of the year's events before the New Year in the future."

"See what has not been cancelled, what we are going to do together next year, and what you think about political affairs. You can talk about it."

All the important officials present were informed in advance.

But even so, they couldn't help but look at each other in surprise.

Zhang Juzheng took a look at the emperor who had not yet taken power and could not help but sigh - he had never seen such a hardworking emperor!
This is before he takes power, I dare not imagine what it will be like when he takes power in the future!

If we can persevere, there will be no worries about the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty!
Zhu Yijun on the throne paused, giving people enough time to react.

Then he looked at the Minister of Finance Wang Guoguang and said, "Mr. Wang, tell me first, what is the revenue and expenditure of our national treasury this year?"

　There is not much information about Li Du. His tombstone says that he was a commoner all his life and was always an aide to Yu Dayou.

　　But he was also on the list of successful candidates in the imperial examinations, ranking 139th in the third class of the palace examination in the second year of the Wanli reign and was a Jinshi.

　　So why this guy passed the imperial examination but didn't become an official, I don't know either. The motivation in the article is my artistic processing

　　
　
(End of this chapter)