Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 009: My Yuan Cong Team (I)
"Two elders, let's put aside other matters for now. The Crown Prince's enlightenment is a big deal, so we must first get this done today!"
At this time, there were three cabinet elders in total. The first was Shen Yikuan, followed by Zhu Geng and Shen Li. All of them were old men in their seventies.
Shen Yiguan was from Ningbo, Zhejiang, and was the leader of the "Zhejiang Party" in the court. He liked to form cliques for personal gain, to seek revenge, and to like shiny things. Although his character was not very good, on the one hand, he had good ability to handle government affairs. On the other hand, his will was not particularly firm, and he did not like to oppose the emperor's ideas. Therefore, Wanli used him as the chief minister.
Next up is Zhu Geng, who is from Shaoxing, Zhejiang. Although he is from Zhejiang, he is not a member of the Zhejiang Party. Well, Zhu is actually a peacemaker.
The last one is Shen Li. He is from Shangqiu, Henan. Compared with Shen’s usual daily behavior, this one is simply a moral role model.
He was promoted by Zhang Juzheng, but when Zhang Juzheng was ill, all the civil and military officials went to Zhang's house to pay their respects, but he refused to go. In order to show his closeness, Zhang Juzheng invited him to his home to write memorials together. He said that how could state affairs be handled in a private home...
Therefore, it is conceivable that two people with the surname Shen are destined to dislike each other.
"Prime Minister, it's useless for us to talk about this matter here. What is the opinion of the Imperial Academy?"
"Uh, Lord Shen, the Hanlin Academy is too busy writing self-defenses right now to care about this. His Majesty has already said that the cabinet will directly draw up the list. Then it will be sent to the Crown Prince for review, and then a trial lecture will be organized."
"It is against the rules to arrange this matter this way."
"Alas, we must make decisions in an emergency. Besides, the prince is only 22 years old this year!"
Everyone knows that betting on potential stocks has a great hope of obtaining excess profits. Therefore, not only in the Ming Dynasty, but also in all dynasties of the Chinese Empire, as long as the royal family did not become a puppet, the position of the prince's teacher was sought after by ministers: on the one hand, the official position would definitely rise sharply after the prince ascended the throne. On the other hand, it was: the emperor's teacher! Which scholar did not want this title.
But... Taisun's teacher...
Let's do the math. The current emperor (Wanli) is only 41 years old this year. Even if we follow the tradition that the emperors of the Zhu family did not live long, even if the current emperor died at the age of 50, the prince would only be 31 years old at that time. If the prince also dies at the age of 50 in the future, then the grandson will most likely take 30 years to ascend to the throne...
It's not impossible to keep a cold stove, but to keep a cold stove for 30 years? Everyone should shake their heads faster.
So, what Shen Yi Guan meant by this sentence is: Unlike the previous situation where the Hanlin Academy was very active in finding a teacher for the crown prince, the talented were not very happy about finding a teacher for the crown prince. Therefore, it is better for the cabinet to directly assign the teacher. Whoever is assigned the teacher will be assigned to the teacher, so that the officials of the Hanlin Academy will not procrastinate for a long time and fail to do the job, and the cabinet will be attacked from both sides by the emperor and the censors in the end.
"Hmph! A bunch of mean people! They only care about profit, not justice! The Crown Prince is only four years old, but he already has an unusual obsession with money. If we don't correct this, what will happen to him in the future?"
"Master Shen, is it useful to scold people? It's better to come up with specific candidates."
"I have my own candidates. Let me count myself as one, and I recommend Lu Shujian."
The so-called Lü Shujian is Lü Kun. He is also from Shangqiu, Henan. Together with Shen Li and Guo Zhengyu, he is known as one of the three great sages of the Wanli period. He was previously the assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice. He was forced to retire due to the widespread attack on the first demon book case. So now he is not in the officialdom, but writing books and teaching in his hometown. In later generations, he was revered as one of the twenty-four Confucian scholars in ancient China.
"With Lu Shujian's character and knowledge, there is certainly no problem for him to teach the Crown Prince. It's been so many years since the evil book case, I think the emperor should have calmed down... But he is not in the court now, and I don't know if he can respond."
"Don't worry, Lord Zhu. If the emperor approves, I am confident that I can summon him with just a letter. Prime Minister, what do you think?"
"I have no problem with you two, but to be honest, you two are not young anymore."
The prince's teacher is the future cabinet minister. Isn't the prince's teacher the future prince's team? You two old guys are both in your seventies. Can you still see the prince ascend the throne? If you choose old men like you, where will the prince's future helpers be? The emperor will definitely not agree to just push old men to take office.
"What the Prime Minister said makes sense. So let's take a look at the Jinshi candidates from the 26th, 29th, and 32nd years of the Wanli reign."
"Yes. Then let's start with the new Jinshi of this year (the 32nd year)."
"Well, the top three Jinshi this year are Yang Shouqin, Sun Chengzong, and Wu Zongda. What I mean is that one of these three must be sent to the Crown Prince, otherwise the Emperor will think that we despise the Crown Prince."
"What Elder Zhu said makes sense. The Crown Prince is, after all, the reincarnation of the Azure Dragon. And although his remarks a few days ago were inappropriate, they showed that the Crown Prince was very thoughtful. Therefore, I also think that at least one of the three top-ranked candidates this year should be sent to the Crown Prince."
"Then choose the top scholar?"
"Haha, Elder Shen probably doesn't know yet? The number one scholar's mother just died, and he went back to mourn. He won't be back within three years."
"Then the runner-up?"
"Well, Sun Chengzong, how come this man only passed the imperial examination at the age of 41? Never mind, at this age, even if he became a scholar, after several rounds of negotiations, he would probably retire before he can enter the cabinet. That's him! Hmm? Do you want the third place winner to go with him?"
"No, the top scholar has already returned home to mourn. How can we leave all the country's talents with the crown prince to waste for decades?"
"Okay, that's the arrangement. Next, come here, bring me the list of successful candidates for the Xinchou year of the 29th year... Um, hahahaha, two ministers, this year's top scholar is the most suitable candidate to go to the Crown Prince."
The most suitable person Shen Yikuan mentioned was Zhang Yicheng, a native of Huating (Shanghai), Songjiang Prefecture, Nanzhili, who was the top scorer in the special examination in the 29th year of Wanli.
This man's father was a famous calligrapher in the Ming Dynasty. He had a profound family background and was knowledgeable. He was good at writing calligraphy and poetry, and was proficient in all arts. After he won the first place in the imperial examination, he was appointed as a compiler in the Hanlin Academy. He basically did not attend any gatherings with his colleagues all day long, but devoted himself to the sea of books. So three years later, most of his fellow Jinshi who entered the Hanlin Academy were assigned to various ministries or localities as officials. Only he was still in the Hanlin Academy, continuing to be surrounded by mountains of books and seas of learning.
It is really suitable for such a person to teach the Crown Prince!
"Okay, this is the fourth candidate. Go on, someone, go get the list of the 26th year of the Wuxu exam."
When it came to selecting , the ministers who were well versed in government affairs knew that they could not send any top or bottom scorers into the department at this time.
At this time, officials who have experience as local officials and know how to handle government affairs should be added. In this way, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will know how the local government of the Ming Dynasty operates. If you still blindly add Hanlin, I don't know if the censors will criticize you, but the shrewd emperor will definitely be dissatisfied.
However, the imperial examinations of the Ming Dynasty had long gone astray: the top three were unlikely to become local officials. Therefore, in the list of Jinshi in the 26th year of Wanli, the cabinet elders directly skipped the top three and set their sights on the second and third places.
"I recommend someone, Xiong Tingbi. He was a third-class Jinshi in the Wuxu year. He was a prosecutor in Baoding and did a very good job. Now he is a censor in the court and he is also a person who dares to speak out. Why not send him over?"
"Haha, the Prime Minister still likes to play tricks on people as usual. However, I also think this arrangement is very good."
"Hey, it's rare that Elder Shen agrees with my proposal. Then, Elder Zhu, can you recommend someone as well?"
"Well, I was thinking that among the five people we recommended, they all have good character, knowledge, calligraphy, writing, and practical skills. But we still need someone to teach etiquette. Therefore, we must choose ."
"Okay, Elder Zhu is right. Well, let's pick Wen Tiren! He is currently a deputy minister in the Ministry of Rites and is very familiar with all kinds of etiquette. That's him!"
