Volume 3 Chapter 32: Palace Examination (Part 1)
It was the tenth day of August, the weather was clear and crisp in autumn. The turmoil over the Kansai incident that had arisen earlier had already been gradually diluted by an invisible force. Even if it had not been diluted, it would have been destined to be overshadowed by the large-scale palace examination today.
Although the imperial court was in a hurry to find its footing and Tokyo was no longer the same as before, the various ceremonies of the past were destined to be difficult to reproduce. Moreover, this time the special imperial examination was a grafting of the so-called three-school system (county school, state school, and imperial college) with the previous imperial examinations, which was quite out of place.
But early in the morning of that day, when hundreds of Imperial students poured into the tall and magnificent Xuande Gate, then walked right inside the palace wall past the extremely majestic Daqing Hall, turned left at Changqing Gate, circled Chongwenyuan, passed the left Yintai Gate, and then turned west, this group of young imperial elites could not help but feel dazed.
After all, not to mention the majestic Xuande Tower and the magnificent Daqing Hall, just in front is the Jiying Hall, and on the east and west sides of this road are the East and West Huamen where the names of the people are posted.
At this moment, the Song Dynasty's more than a hundred years of cultural and splendid rituals, as well as the political tradition of nurturing scholars behind them, brought tremendous shock and impact to these young imperial elites.
No matter who you are, no matter what school you follow or what political views you hold, when you think of Kou Zhun, Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi, Ouyang Xiu, Wang Anshi, Sima Guang, the Three Su brothers, and even Lü Yijian, Bao Zheng, Fu Bi, Pang Ji, Wen Yanbo and many other well-known people who have walked along this road, then entered the Jiying Hall, turned out of Xihua Gate, and went to Donghua Gate... everyone can't help but feel excited.
The feeling of awe and the eagerness to try it out blended together without any conflict.
This mentality reached its peak as they began to slowly and orderly pour into the Jiying Palace.
However, as the saying goes, you walk on the road to see the scenery, but others on the road also regard you as the scenery... Just as countless Taixue students walked through the wide road between the East and West Huamen and slowly turned into the Jiying Hall, they did not know that at the same time, Emperor Zhao had already been standing at the Huangyi Gate of the Huangyi Hall next to the Jiying Hall for a long time with a large group of people... Moreover, this guy actually came here specifically to see this scenery.
In fact, these students who were basically visiting the palace for the first time didn't even know that in the past, when people actually took the imperial examinations, they usually just entered and exited through the Xihua Gate directly, and there was no need to pass through the magnificent Xuande Tower and Daqing Hall before coming here. It was only because Emperor Zhao specifically instructed them to do so today that they did so.
In other words, these students went through such a long detour just to satisfy Emperor Zhao's wish to go to Huangyi Gate to watch this scene.
In this regard, both the prime ministers and the Minister of Rites Zhu Shengfei who presided over today's ceremony had nothing to say .
After all, firstly, the palace was deserted at the moment, and the Daqing Hall and Chongwenyuan were not in use at all, so it would not be a problem to go there;
Secondly, the reason given by Emperor Zhao is also reasonable. The so-called prosperity of Tokyo is no longer there, so we should use the main building and main hall to show the legitimacy of this recruitment.
Thirdly, the ministers were also watching the excitement at the Huangyi Gate.
Returning to the front, the carved railings on the Huangyi Gate Tower blocked the view. Emperor Zhao led dozens of senior officials from a high vantage point. They saw hundreds of students walking hurriedly and making a lot of noise on the road below, but without any sound of speech. It was really emotional, and many people were eager to speak... But on this occasion, the emperor did not speak, and everyone did not want to be the first to speak, so as not to attract the attention of the students below.
After watching for a while, Emperor Zhao couldn't help laughing in front of everyone, "I wanted to imitate Emperor Taizong of Tang and say 'All heroes in the world are within my grasp', but I couldn't help but appear a little too proud..."
The palace was spacious and everyone was silent, so as soon as these words were spoken, they immediately attracted the attention of the students below, and attracted many people who kept walking to come and see secretly, and also caused many people on the upper floors to laugh and laugh together.
After laughing, Zhang Rong, the commander of the Imperial Navy and the chief of Liangshan Lake, who was wearing an ill-fitting official uniform and looked a little cautious, was the first to be curious: "Sir, how many people are you going to get this time?"
"Six hundred!" Zhao Jiu blurted out.
"Are they all Jinshi?" Zhang Rong was even more surprised.
"Yes." Zhao Jiu said frankly.
"It should be like this." Zhang Rong thought. "It's been many years since I took the imperial examination. It's time to take the big one."
"That's not what I meant." Zhao Jiu was still honest. "Right now, the number of vacancies in the Central Plains is not that high. Moreover, the money and food are still tight, and the officials are all on half salary... Actually, when I recruit scholars this time, I intend to send more of them to serve in the Imperial Army... What do you think? Commander Zhang, do you want some Jinshi to join your navy?"
Zhang Rong was stunned for a moment, wanting to say something but stopping himself. Even though they had received the emperor's order, other military governors such as Han Shizhong, Zhang Jun, Yue Fei, Li Yanxian, Wang Yan, etc. who came with him were also stunned. The two chief and deputy commanders of the imperial camp, Wang Yuan and Qu Duan, also lost their composure.
In comparison, the civil officials who attended the event, including Lü Haowen, three prime ministers, one chief censor, the heads of the six ministries, several Hanlin academicians, and several secretaries of the Secretariat, did not say much... except for a few of them who frowned slightly.
Obviously, this group of people should have known about this arrangement a long time ago.
However, there is a secret behind the smooth passage of such an arrangement that goes against the traditional political tradition of emphasizing civil power over military power. Specifically, it is directly related to a prominent figure in Tokyo recently.
This person was Hu Yin’s father, the famous Taoist Hu Anguo.
By the way, when Hu Anguo came to the court that day, there was definitely not as much drama as those students imagined; nor did Hu Anguo himself downplay it and make himself look like a failure... At least from Emperor Zhao's perspective, he and Hu Anguo actually had a good chat and laugh that day, and they parted peacefully.
First of all, Hu Anguo is not a corrupt scholar.
The opinions he put forward, such as giving priority to military affairs and defending the old capital, are actually consistent with the current governing philosophy of Emperor Zhao and even the central government. Not only that, as a person who had passed the imperial examination and then returned to live in seclusion, Hu Anguo actually raised many key issues that the rulers were destined to find difficult to touch upon during his visit to the emperor.
For example, this great scholar pointed out in public that officials within the court already had a tendency to form factions. Important officials from the southeast, Bashu, Jingxiang and other places all had their own wings in the central government, and often opposed the emperor and the prime ministers for local interests... This caused Li Guang, Zhu Shengfei, Liu Ziwu and others to panic.
For example, Hu Anguo publicly proposed that "military power should not be delegated to others". He was the first person to praise Emperor Zhao and the commanders for establishing the letter system. He also believed that this was not enough and that the emperor should further try to infiltrate the authority of the emperor and the central government into deeper levels of the army.
It was precisely because of these two sensitive issues that were suddenly raised in public that Emperor Zhao was able to take advantage of the situation and formally approve the issue of Jinshi candidates joining the army, which had been strongly opposed by Deputy Prime Minister Xu Jingheng and Chief Censor Li Guang.
In fact, by that time, Emperor Zhao had already developed a liking for this famous Taoist scholar. He really felt that Hu Yin's father was more useful than Hu Yin... Big Hu could only be used as an anchor on issues of war and peace, but Old Hu could serve as an anchor on many government affairs.
However, everyone knows the final result.
Hu Anguo, who had extremely high qualifications, great reputation and a decent background, still failed to become an important official in the central government. He only got a library position and rewards, but was essentially idle.
The reason is clear.
First of all, the performance of Mr. Hu aroused the vigilance of the prime ministers and other important officials. Such an idealistic Confucian scholar was placed in front of Emperor Zhao, who always liked to stir up trouble. The two of them together would probably not be easier to deal with than Lu Yihao and the emperor together that day, right?
Who dares to keep him?
The other one, of course, is the theory of "nourishing qi", which has caused great controversy.
To be fair, Emperor Zhao did not have much aversion to this "qi".
Even though Hu Anguo specifically emphasized that his "qi" was not a figurative metaphor, but a real combination of the origin of the universe and morality, Zhao Jiu still did not find it absurd... The reason is very simple, you have to look at people from the perspective of the times.
Zhao Jiu, you knew about oxygen when you were in your twenties, but Hu Anguo knew about "nourishing qi" despite having a big beard. That's because you are special, not because others are not good enough... Because the mainstream philosophical thought these days is to connect something as vague as morality with the ultimate principles of the universe.
Moreover, this connection must follow the guidance of Confucian classics.
However, even though he understood it in his heart, Zhao Jiu still gave up the idea of keeping Mr. Lao Hu by his side as an important official, because he had to stick to the new learning that was more utilitarian. And based on the serious research that Emperor Zhao had done recently with the energy of an engineering student, he had already discovered that the new learning had two huge problems!
First of all, of course, it was Cai Jing and the Emperor Taishang Daojun who insisted on the new learning, but because their own families were too dirty, they also ruined the political reputation of the new learning... We have to do this slowly, there is no way around it.
Secondly, the new school of thought does not have a systematic and effective explanation of the fundamental principles of the universe in its own theoretical system.
No matter how unconventional Mr. Hu's "spirit" is these days, and how it makes some pragmatic Tai students feel a little ridiculous, the new school does not even have this "spirit"!
But right now, Zhao Jiu just doesn't have the time to study Confucian classics to help the new students perfect this "qi" in order to go public through a backdoor listing... Then there is no choice but to let Mr. Hu, who is good at cultivating "qi", be idle for the time being.
This was the real reason why Hu Anguo came to the court that day, the two sides had a very good conversation, but ended up parting ways reluctantly.
But no matter what, Zhao Jiu had to thank them just for sending the Jinshi to the army.
Turning back, the surrounding military officials were all surprised. Zhang Rong thought for a long time but did not dare to agree. As many students poured into the Jiying Hall, Emperor Zhao did not say much, but he held a golden belt, wore a red robe, and a hard-winged hat, and led dozens of civil and military officials, and entered the Jiying Hall from the side door of the Huangyi Hall.
When they got to the palace, Emperor Zhao sat on the throne, with civil and military officials lined up on the steps on both sides. The six hundred students below bowed deeply beside the slightly crowded tables, facing each other. Then, as the Emperor and the chief escort Lan Gui spoke in turn, they stood up and returned behind the tables.
Up to this point, Zhao Jiu's expression remained normal, but the 600 people who were about to become Jinshi had different expressions...and what was interesting was that among the important officials, the Prime Minister Lu Haowen on the left and the Minister of War and the Prefect of Kaifeng Chen Gui, actually had strange expressions on their faces, just like the generals on the right.
Lu Haowen was born into a family of nepotism, and Chen Guimingfa was born into a family of nepotism, and both had regrets in the imperial examinations.
As for those generals, they undoubtedly had other thoughts because of the customs and people's hearts that had been formed over hundreds of years... Of course, among them, Zhang Rong, who was specially invited by the emperor to watch the ceremony and had the lowest social status, was the most out of control.
The ceremony continued, and soon the Minister of Rites Zhu Shengfei led the eunuchs forward and asked the emperor to write the questions in public.
Needless to say, this kind of superficial work was of course unnecessary. Emperor Zhao had already thought of the topic long ago, and even consulted the three ministers, Lu Haowen, Wang Boyan, and Xu Jingheng, to make sure that there were no objections.
But for some reason, when they saw the emperor suddenly stop writing halfway through his writing on the imperial desk, the three ministers, who knew that the emperor was going to do something strange again, did not react at all... Quite the contrary, the three of them felt as if a stone had fallen from their chest.
Because what is meant to come will come.
"Prime Minister Lu, I remember that this time there are outstanding local officials and young people with knowledge and military merit who will take the exam together...is that right?" In the quiet Jiying Hall, a clear and unmistakable official "imperial voice" suddenly came to the ears of the six hundred prospective Jinshi who were sitting upright.
"That is exactly what happened, Your Majesty."
A slightly older voice immediately responded. It was obviously the Prime Minister of the time, Lu Haowen, who many believed had made as much contribution as Li Gang and Zong Ze.
"Then let's do this." Zhao Jiu suddenly laughed, but he didn't even put down the brush in his hand, and pointed it directly at an unexpected person, as if he was talking nonsense. "Pengju, you have military merits, you are very young, and you have always been knowledgeable. Isn't it in accordance with the rules? I asked Officer Lan to add a case, and you can also take the test!"
