Prime Minister

Chapter 374
After this meeting, Zhang Yue and Sima Guang talked happily.

From the first time the two met and chatted in Soujizhai, to Sima Guang as the main examiner of the provincial examination, and then the systemic examination, Sima Guang and Zhang Yue reminisce about the old days.

Talking about reminiscing about the old days, Zhang Yue also understands that Sima Guang, as the examiner of his several imperial examinations, although the two of them are serving the scriptures together now, his official qualifications are far superior to yours in all aspects, so you still have to correct your attitude.

Sima Guang is indeed a kind-hearted elder, and he didn't think too much about his superiors.

Sima Guang cleared his throat and said, "Since you are attending the banquet of serving scriptures, I will tell you the rules. The serving master is on rotation with the Jingyan Hall and the Academy of Sciences. Every time there are two people on duty, it is on duty for two days. Touzhi is called Mozhi the next day, and the night before Touzhi needs to stay overnight in Zhilu in the Forbidden Forest to prepare for publicity and counseling."

In the bachelor's college, there are Hanlin bachelors.The Jingyan official stayed overnight in Zhilu. When the emperor encountered an emergency at night, he would announce the recruitment of the Jingyan official and the Hanlin scholar to the palace to give advice.

Zhang Yue said: "Don't worry, waiter. During the two days on duty, the subordinate officials will make clear arrangements in advance in the ritual courtyard so that the banquet will not conflict with the courtyard."

Because Jingyan officials are all part-time officials, it is necessary to balance the night shift and the yamen where they are.But having said that, the Li Yuan where Zhang Yue is located and the Jian Yuan where Sima Guang is located are usually fine.

The admonisher mainly supervises the prime minister, and the emperor asked the admonisher Zhijing to serve as a servant to check and balance Zhongshu and keep the flow of speech smooth.

As for Zhang Yue's ritual official, based on his personal speculation, he still changed his etiquette under the will of the emperor.

Of course, the most important thing is the admonishment officials. Li officials are all idle officials. If the key departments such as Sansi and Dengwen Guyuan are allowed to stay in the official business banquet for two days, the affairs of the government will be delayed.

Sima Guang nodded approvingly and said: "It seems that I don't need to say much, Du Zhi has long wanted to be ahead of me, and he is really a formidable young man."

After that, Sima Guang looked through the value book and said: "The Sutra Banquet is taught on a single day. If there is no accident, it should be scheduled to be taught ten days later. On the first day of the lecture, the prime minister will be invited to attend. Now it is Zeng Xianggong who is in charge of the sutras. Banquet house, I will confirm this matter with you after I know him, these days are going to be good and preparations will be made."

Zhang Yue said yes immediately.

At the end Sima Guang said: "If there is anything Duzhi doesn't understand, feel free to come to the old man, you have been to the old man's house, so congratulate you on your visit, as long as the old man knows about it at the sutra feast, he will know everything."

Zhang Yue thanked Sima Guang and left the ceremony.

Nine days later, Zhang Yue was on duty in the Secret Pavilion.

In the past, Zhang Yue often saw the emperor having an emergency at night, so he summoned the prime minister to the palace to discuss.

In fact, this is not realistic.

How big is the palace?How far is the prime minister from the emperor's residence?The most important point is that there is a tradition of locking the palace gate after nightfall, and knocking on the palace gate at night is not allowed unless there is an urgent matter.

This is the reason why Princess Fukang knocked on the palace gate at night and was sprayed wildly by Sima Guang and other ministers.

Therefore, it is impossible for the prime minister and minister to enter the palace gate at night.

Therefore, the general rotating officials are on duty in the secret pavilion, that is, within the scope of the imperial palace.On the day when he was on duty, Zhang Yue brought food and bedding, and arrived at the secret pavilion for the night.

The summer night in the pavilion is different from that at home. Zhang Yue walked out of Zhilu to look at the starry night sky, and the cool night wind blowing on his body was very pleasant.

Zhang Yue looked at the night sky for a while, and heard footsteps in his ears. It turned out that it was an old official from the secret pavilion holding a lamp.

The old official said: "Duke Zhuangyuan, you can't sleep!"

Zhang Yue admitted: "To be honest, I am afraid that His Majesty will summon you suddenly, so I have been afraid to sleep."

The old official said with a smile: "It's been peaceful recently, the palace won't call you urgently, so you don't have to worry too much about the number one scholar."

Zhang Yue felt a little disappointed after hearing this, and the old official said: "I still remember that after the official family took charge, they called the Jingyan Hanlin every night to play, and today's several chief executives have won His Majesty's favor since they took the Jingyan appointment, even Xixia It was the same when the war was lost, but after Qingli, it gradually decreased."

The more the chapter understands.The failure of the Qingli reform made the officials feel a little bit flat, and in the He Jiayou period, the government was mostly entrusted to the prime minister.

Naturally, the gold content of this sutra is not as high as it was 20 years ago.

"The old man has some beef here, Mr. Zhuangyuan eats some, otherwise he won't be able to sleep."

After Zhang Yue agreed, he also brought food to the old official's house.

Zhang Yue entered Shiqi Niang to prepare a lot of food for him, such as tofu.When the old official saw that Zhang Yue had brought the tofu, he called out three good words, and immediately said: "I have an iron pot, pickles, and the number one scholar."

Zhang Yue said in a low voice: "Didn't you say that fire is not allowed in the secret pavilion?"

The old official laughed and said, "If you don't tell me, I won't tell you, who knows."

Zhang Yue said happily when he heard the words: "If you have good food, how can you not have good wine."

After finishing speaking, Zhang Yue took out the jug of wine again, and the old official sniffed it and praised: "Lamb wine, very good, very good."

Zhang Yue thought to himself, Shi Qi Niang asked her to prepare more food and drink, so that's what she used.

At that moment, the old official set up an iron pot in the room, and Zhang Yue took a blade and threw the tofu and pickles into the iron pot, and then used it as a spoon to cook in the pot.

The old official's index finger moved and said: "This tofu is also called Xiaozaiyang, and it is the most delicious."

After speaking, the old official raised his chopsticks and put the tofu in the pot and put it in his mouth.

Zhang Yue was not polite, rolled up his sleeves and ate hot tofu and pickles.

The old official took out the beef to serve the wine again. Although Zhang Yue had a good capacity for alcohol, he still didn't dare to drink too much, and just had a few sips with him.

But the old official rolled up his sleeves and said: "When Mr. Zeng was serving as a lecturer at Tianzhang Pavilion, he also ate beef and drank with you and me today."

Zhang Yue couldn't help but stop eating chopsticks when he heard the words, and ate wine and meat with the prince of the court, which was awesome.

"Mr. Zeng is humorous and doesn't shy away from talking with old people, but the more officials he becomes in the future, the less he will talk."

Zhang Yue asked: "Then Mr. Zeng once..."

The old official said: "Are you asking if Mr. Zeng mentioned it to me? Yes, but this old man pushed it away. This old man is a contented person. Just like this, it is good to have a bowl of meat in the morning. Why bother to eat it."

Zhang Yue nodded and said, "Old man really sees through."

The old official said to Zhang Yue: "On the first day when Duke Zhuangyuan entered the Sutra banquet, did he regard himself as the master of the emperor, or as a lecturer, or as a clerk?"

Zhang Yue said heartily, this is the old official pointing himself.He said sternly: "I also ask the old man to enlighten me."

The old official took a sip of wine and said: "I remember that a servant once said that in the past, there were three masters and three teachers. They were both the teacher of the emperor and the minister of the emperor, which confused the distinction between teachers and ministers. However, the Han Dynasty used humble ministers as servants. From then on, the Jingyan officials dare not call themselves the emperor's teacher. The old man saw that many officials entered the Jingyan banquet and pretended to be teachers of Confucianism, and even the emperor's teacher. These people are not very good at serving the emperor."

"So since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the emperors have been taught by humble people. Just now, the old man asked the number one scholar whether he has thought clearly about himself?"

Zhang Yue understood what the old official meant, and there were three classes of Jingyan officials.

The first class is masters, such as Yi Yin, Jiang Taigong, etc., and Zhang Juzheng and Wanli in the Ming Dynasty.

This is also the dream of Confucian scholars, the emperor's teacher.But in this way, it is easy to confuse the boundary between the emperor and the minister.

Why Shang Zhou can?
Because the monarchy is not strong enough, for example, the Qing Dynasty first implemented the system of deliberative kings, and the four major Baylors governed together, but after they entered the Central Plains, they centralized power.

The prairie tribe is a tribal collegial system, so people like Yi Yin and Jiang Taigong are allowed to appear.On the contrary, Zhang Juzheng of the Ming Dynasty served as the chief assistant and the emperor's teacher, which would be a sad reminder.

Therefore, the emperor's teacher often asks humble people to teach and accept.

The old official borrowed those words just now to let Zhang Yue figure out his position.Zhang Yue deeply felt that this meal of wine was really the right choice. This is all the experience of the old man, a detour that the predecessors have traveled.

Zhang Yue asked humbly: "Master will definitely not do it, so if you dare to ask the old man, what is the difference between serving the lecture and holding the scriptures?"

The old official took another sip of the wine, his face was slightly drunk at the moment.

"Let's not mention the scriptures first, what is a servant lecture? To put it bluntly, it is a human skin book. In the Wei and Jin Dynasties, there was no job for a servant, but it was just a servant. What is a servant? You see that when rich people eat, they have to arrange a group of people on the left and right. Answer, it would be better to just preach from the scriptures, this is the servant lecture."

Zhang Yue couldn't help but feel ashamed when he heard the words, isn't this just a background picture, a humanoid dictionary?As for the scriptures, it is similar to the intensive lectures on movies watched in the app. It takes a few minutes to watch an hour-long movie. The emperor is too tired to read the book page by page, so he invites someone to speak the book. After all, the Chongzheng Palace is a storyteller.

The more Zhang thought of this, he pondered for a moment and couldn't help asking: "Dare to ask me how to practice scriptures?"

But at this moment, the old official was very drunk, and his cloak collapsed and he said: "I'm drunk, the number one scholar can do as he pleases, just put out the charcoal fire when he goes."

Zhang Yue couldn't help feeling sorry when he heard the words, but he also thought that it would be meaningless to rely on people's words. The road is at your feet, and you have to do it yourself how to be a banquet official.

What is the scriptures?It is to read the scriptures in hand.The study of Confucian classics flourished in the Han Dynasty, and the students held the scripture scrolls in both hands and respectfully presented them to the scripture teacher.

Zhijing is a first-class honorific title for a status-worshipping teacher.

If the emperor's teacher is looking for a draw, and the lecture is like a response, then holding the scriptures is the best choice.

Zhang Yue thought it through and ate a few pieces of meat and extinguished the charcoal fire before going back to his room to rest.

As the old official said, if nothing happened all night, I thought it was impossible to summon the emperor on the first night of enlistment.Zhang Yue lay on the bed and couldn't help laughing at himself.

It was a peaceful night, but it was worthwhile to eat this meal of pickled vegetables, tofu and beef.

The next day Zhang Yue went to Erying Pavilion to speak.

Erying Pavilion is next to Chongzheng Hall, which is also the location of Jing Banquet Hall. When Zhang Yue arrived at Erying Pavilion, he saw a purple-robed official inside, who was about to salute but called to stop him.

"Extend it."

Zhang Yue took a closer look and it turned out that it was Qian Xiangxian, a direct scholar of Longtu Pavilion and an attendant of Tianzhang Pavilion, who knew the Criminal Court.

Qian Xiangxian's official position is not high, but because he has lectured for the emperor for more than ten years in the Youying Pavilion, he is specially bestowed upon Zi.Zhang Yue looked at the green robe on his own body, and then at the purple robe on the opponent's body, feeling that the gap was too great.

Qian Xiang smiled and said: "Duzhi, it's the first time I've given a lecture to an official today, and I've seen all the lectures (rules of the lecture)."

Zhang Yue said: "Reporting to the direct bachelor, all the officials have read it."

"That's good." Qian Xiang nodded first and said to the outside world: "The new official is here, so hurry up and pay homage."

After all, the people in the Yingying Hall went up to pay their respects one by one.

(End of this chapter)