Volume 2: Residence in the Capital Chapter 84: The "Good Student" of the Giant Pit
In his previous life, Zhang Shou loved old maps. He had collected all the maps of Beijing during the Ming and Qing dynasties. He could still remember the locations of some representative government offices and mansions. So, when he went to Beijing last time, he found that the inner and outer gates of Beijing were all consistent with his memory, and Shuntian Mansion was also located in the north of the inner city. He had already anticipated the location of the Imperial College.
Sure enough, we walked north along Chongwenmen Street, crossed most of the inner city, crossed Dongzhimen Street, and walked along Jixian Street for two or three more alleys. When we saw the city wall on the north side, we finally reached the Imperial College. When we turned west onto the Imperial College Street, we had to pass a sacred place for scholars as usual - the Confucian Temple.
The noble sons who rode on horses and paraded through the city dismounted one by one , and even Wu who was in the carriage got off. She seemed confused and bewildered about coming to the Imperial College to take up her post so early in the evening without much experience. When Zhu Ying came up to support her, she couldn't help but hold Zhu Ying's hand, and her voice was a little confused.
"Yingying, if you take office, shouldn't you pay respect to your superiors? Which superior would be in the Imperial College at this late hour? Wouldn't it be more appropriate to come back tomorrow during the day?"
Zhu Ying coughed lightly, then lowered her voice and said, "I didn't expect that fellow Lu Sanpang was so cunning, and I didn't expect that other people would agree to send Ah Shou here in the middle of the night... But it doesn't matter, Aunt Wu, don't worry. The Imperial College's chief academic officer is Grandpa Ge, and Grandpa Ge is Ah Shou's teacher. With him around, there's nothing to be afraid of!"
Zhang Shou couldn't help but laugh and cry. Miss, it's true that Teacher Ge is the chief academic officer of the Imperial College, but you forgot to say the word "lifelong"!
Lifetime Priest of the Imperial College, this sounds the same as the lifetime members and honorary presidents in later generations, it just sounds good, but has no real power... Of course, if Teacher Ge showed up here, everyone from top to bottom would definitely show respect, but he is not here now!
Of course, he also knew that even if Ge Yong's reputation was useless, the Imperial College was now full of enemies, and Zhu Ying would definitely rush forward and crush them to pieces. The eldest lady's personality was really suitable for being a fierce general on the battlefield...
When the group left the dismounting area in front of the Confucian Temple, they mounted their horses and rode an arrow's distance away, and arrived at the gate of the Imperial College. Night had already fallen, and compared with the prosperity of other places in the East City and West City, this place seemed much quieter, with no one coming in or out. If it weren't for the tall memorial archway in front of the gate, Zhang Shou almost felt that he had come to the wrong place.
But when he saw the words on the archway, his pupils couldn't help shrinking slightly, because they were two very simple words - university.
Zhu Ying looked up at the words on the memorial archway that looked like iron hooks and silver strokes, and explained to Zhang Shou, "These are the words of our great ancestor, Grandpa Ge. He was the first chief priest of the Imperial College! If he had not passed away early, he would have held as many official positions as Grandpa Ge. I heard that Emperor Taizu obeyed almost everything he said, and even cried bitterly when he passed away."
However, for the first time, Zhang Shou didn't really listen to what Zhu Ying said. Instead, he looked at the two words and laughed.
Just as he was laughing, a stereotyped voice came from inside the door: "The Book of Rites: Royal Regulations says that the primary school is to the south of the palace, and the university is in the suburbs. The emperor's is called Biyong, and the princes' is called Ding Palace. I wonder why Dr. Zhang laughed when he saw the word university?"
Zhang Shou looked in the direction of the sound, and saw a dark man coming out of the night. When the man got closer, he realized that he was wearing black clothes, black shoes, and a square black face. At first glance, he looked like the Black Impermanence that came out of the night. Of course, the most irritating thing was his picky and piercing eyes.
He was about to speak, but Qi Liang interrupted him and said, "Teacher has taught us a long time ago that the kings of ancient times all regarded education as their top priority, and established universities to educate the country and schools to educate the people in the city. Therefore, there were universities in the Zhou Dynasty, Imperial College in the Han and Tang Dynasties, and Imperial College and Imperial Academy in the Song Dynasty. Our dynasty has the Imperial College, but we also erected this university memorial archway in front of the Imperial College. Naturally, we followed the ancient teachings and educated the students."
Zhang Shou didn't expect that Qi Liang had also learned his signature teacher-style words, and he burst out laughing.
Without waiting for the visitor to reply, he said calmly, "Xiao Qi is right. I just saw the word university and felt the majesty of the Imperial College in the past. I just smiled when I thought that the place no longer had the flourishing scene of the past and many subjects were withered. Even the emperor regretted that the academic disciplines established by Emperor Taizu were only in name only. Don't you agree?"
The dark-faced man in black clothes seemed to have not expected Zhang Shou to say two words back, and his face became even darker. He was silent for a moment, and then decisively changed the subject and said: "It's so late, isn't it inappropriate for Dr. Zhang to bring so many people to the Imperial College? You know, the students have a full schedule of classes every day, and now they are already sleeping in their dormitories."
Perhaps it was because of the lesson of Xie Wanquan that Zhang Shou realized that the other party only used so many people to refer to the noble children behind him, and did not use any accusatory words such as unlearned and incompetent. Even so, this overt rejection was enough.
"This is the first time I know that I, a doctor of the Imperial College, am accused of disturbing other students when I bring students back to the Imperial College late at night. Could it be that those who have already gone to bed are students, and the ones behind me are not? Today, they rode all the way back to the capital, and the first thing they did was to send me to the Imperial College. This shows that they are good students who are eager to learn."
Suddenly being labeled as a good student by their own teacher, a large group of poor students almost instantly held their heads high. And Lu Sanlang, who was previously considered a poor student in the humanities but was actually a top student in science, couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
When Zhang Chen and he secretly discussed how to create momentum in the streets after entering the city, he still felt it was a bit risky. After all, this was equivalent to taking advantage of the momentum of a large group of noble children to coerce Zhang Shou to go to the Imperial College to establish his authority. If Zhang Shou got angry, he would have offended someone greatly.
"After all, he is a young master, very righteous and kind..." Lu Sanlang thought to himself, and was about to speak out to agree with Zhang Shou, but he didn't expect Zhang Shou to suddenly cough . Remembering that this meant silence in the Qingfeng Xulai Hall, he swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue. Not only him, but the others who were about to make a noise to boost morale also shut up immediately.
"Besides, they are completely silent at this moment, so why disturb them? The Imperial College is not just for one person, it is for the imperial court and the people of the world. It is certainly a form of flattery to despise the poor and love the rich, but is it fair to look at these students of noble birth with a critical eye?"
Zhu Ying accompanied Wu in the rear carriage. Seeing Wu's slack eyes, she chuckled and said, "Aunt Wu, that guy is Xu Heida, the supervisor of the Imperial College's Shengqian Hall. Everyone calls him Xu Heizi. He has a black face, a black heart, and even blacker hands. Many students who committed crimes were beaten by him. Other doctors dared not to confront him, but Ah Shou dared to do so! Now Lu Sanpang and Zhang Chen had no choice but to obey!"
However, just when everyone, including Zhu Ying and Wu, felt that Zhang Shou had the upper hand, Xu Heida said coldly: "Since Dr. Zhang has guaranteed these students, I have nothing to say. However, Dr. Zhang, please supervise them carefully. You know, they are the ones who report to school and take the most leave every quarter. They are the worst in the quarterly evaluation and ranking."
"They bully students and punch people... not to mention outside the Imperial College. Just ask them how many bad things they have done! The quality of students cannot be determined by your words!"
Seeing the black-faced guy turn around and leave after saying this, this time it was Zhang Shou's turn to be angry. If there was no other way, would he protect these scumbags behind him? He turned around and slowly scanned the faces of those who were obviously guilty but pretending to be indifferent, and suddenly laughed.
"Lu Sanlang still owes me two hundred copies of the chicken-rabbit-in-a-cage question. This is the punishment for him and Zhang Chen causing trouble last night. The rest of you might as well count your past bad deeds in your mind and write them down to me truthfully one hundred times. I will then summarize them and hand them over to Yingying. She will naturally know whether you have covered up your mistakes or not."
Seeing a large group of people complaining, Zhang Shou coughed heavily again. When the crowd finally quieted down, he said unhappily, "A prodigal son who returns is more valuable than gold. Otherwise, the emperor would not have given you a banquet to reward you for your meritorious service in capturing and killing the rebels. If the previous incident was not serious, I can forgive it. If you do it again in the future, don't blame me for making you copy math problems until your hands break!"
The reason why she accepted so many people before was because of Zhu Ying's hype. Given her nature as a young lady, she would not bring in those guys who committed crimes and harmed the world... As long as they were not serious crimes, she could still try to educate these extremely bad "good students".
Xu Heida, who had only walked out a dozen steps, heard Zhang Shou's words clearly, and his eyes lit up with surprise.
I originally thought that Zhang Shou was just pretending to be a teacher to these playboys, but from the tone of his voice, is he serious?
Moreover, the emperor would actually reward a group of playboys?
