Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 148 Children of each family (Part [-])
Zhang Juzheng’s prediction yesterday was correct. This time, the selection of the crown prince’s accompanying reading, because of Li Wei’s words, the final candidates were really “consciously” restricted by the officials to the cabinet ministers and the six ministers or the family of the nine ministers. Or to be more precise: all are the sons and grandchildren of high-ranking officials who are qualified to participate in court promotion.

And because these officials may not have children and grandchildren of suitable ages, only the following people participated in the selection of Wenhua Palace in the end: Li Sicheng, grandson of Li Chunfang, Gao Wushi, nephew of Gao Gong, Zhao Zuyin, grandson of Zhao Zhenji, Zhang Jianxiu, son of Zhang Juzheng, Lu Xingzhou, the son of Tiaoyang, Ge Xi, the grandson of Ge Shouli, Shen Yongmao, the son of Shen Shixing, and Ma Zhen, the son of Ma Ziqiang.

Gao Yushi didn't know the list until he came to Wenhua Palace, but he laughed immediately after getting the list.

This group of children who are about the same age as him, logically speaking, all of them have left their names in history books. At first glance, they all seem to be smart, but Gao Wushi knows that this group of children... at least from the perspective of knowledge. In terms of perspective, there is still a gap.

Judging from the original historical situation, there may be two threats to him today.The first one is Li Sicheng, the grandson of Li Chunfang. This person will be a Jinshi in the 26th year of Wanli in the future.After becoming an official, this man had a lot of backbone. He was planted and demoted because he refused to attach himself to the party.

The second one is Ge Xi, he was Shandong Xieyuan in the fourth year of Wanli in history, and a Jinshi in the 11th year of Wanli. The Jinshi was much earlier than Li Sicheng. It can be seen that he was young and talented. He was awarded a review by the Imperial Academy, but unfortunately he died a little early and stopped at the Nanjing Guozijian Division.Moreover, the Ge family has five poets in one school, needless to say in terms of talent and learning.

The reason why he is ranked behind Li Sicheng is because Ge Shouli is a good friend of Gao Gong. The last time Gao Gong became an official, Ge Shouli was also implicated. He is a staunch ally of Higharch.In this way, presumably Ge Shouli should explain something to his grandson, and would not forcefully compete with Gao Yushi.

And Lu Xingzhou, Shen Yongmao and Ma Zhen have all won Jinshi in history.Especially Shen Yongmao, he was No. 11 Jinshi in the second class in the 20th year of Wanli.It's just that he became a Jinshi, to a considerable extent, relied on the power of his father Shen Shixing at that time. The imperial censor Wei Yunzhen once exposed this situation, but Wanli reiterated Shixing in the letter at the time, and did not pursue it.

Shen Yongmao became an official to Fang Langzhong in the Ministry of War. Later, Wanli Zhao promoted him to be the Shaoqing of the Taipu Temple, and ordered him to be in charge of Fang Qingli's affairs as the Taipu Shaoqing.Then he moved to Yushi, the capital of Youqian, and served as the governor of Shuntian on behalf of the emperor.In the early years of Chongzhen, he was promoted from the right servant of the Ministry of War to the left servant, and then moved to be the minister of the Ministry of war. He begged for his illness.After death, he was given to the crown prince Taibao.It can be seen that although his Jinshi status may be a bit watery, his personal ability is not bad-if he is bad, he will not be able to get out.

As for Lu Xingzhou and Ma Zhen, both of them also had Jinshi backgrounds, but in history, their Jinshi identities are also a bit watery, and the matter may have something to do with Zhang Siwei.Gao Wushi raised his eyebrows and didn't pay any more attention.

The last two left are Zhao Zuyin and Zhang Jianxiu.The two of them are the reason for Gao Pragmatic's smile.

Zhao Zuyin is the grandson of Zhao Zhenji. Others say that "a person is like his name", but he is "as his name is like his name". It is basically due to Zuyin that he can appear here.In history, he is known as "the ancestor Yinzhong Shusheren, and the official history is the magistrate of the military and civilian government of Xundian, Yunnan".From this sentence alone, Gao Yushi can almost judge that this person has no great ability.

This starts with the Ming Dynasty’s Grace System. According to the "Daming Huidian" records of Daming’s Grace System: civil servants from the first rank to the seventh rank will be rewarded with one son for the world’s wealth...the first rank, the fifth rank; The first grade, from the fifth grade; the second grade, the sixth grade... But this is just according to the rules copied from the previous dynasty. In fact, in the early Ming Dynasty, civil officials did not follow this practice, and most of them were special favors. , since it was the early days of the founding of the country, let's not mention it for now.

After Hongzhi and Zhengde, the system of civic narration became more mature, and it was roughly divided into three levels: Shangbao Sicheng (Zheng Liupin), Zhongshu Sheren (Cong Qipin) and Guozi Jiansheng.First Kui Yipin Enyin, for example, worship Shangbao Sicheng.Ci Kui and Liu Qing who reach the first rank can worship Zhongshu Sheren.Of course, the rank of the bachelor itself is not high, and the "first rank" here refers to the false titles of San Gong (the first rank) and Sangu (the first rank).As for the first-rank minister Enyin Shangbao Sicheng, it was actually a practice formed since Jian Yi in the first year of Hongxi.

Shang Baosi, one Qing, one Shaoqing, and three Sicheng.In charge of seals, talismans, and seals, and identify their use.

During the Hongwu period, Shangbaosi mostly served as sons of honorable nobles, such as Geng Bingwen's son Geng Xuan, and Xu Dazi's Xu Yingxu; during the Yongle period, most of them served as former ministers of Qiandi, such as Zhu Xiu and Yuan Zhongche.Afterwards, Xun Chen attacked many times and took up military positions, and Shang Bao Sicheng became the highest position of Yin Zi, a civil servant.

However, although Shangbao Sicheng, who was born in Enyin, has a high starting point, his career development is difficult to compare with his colleagues who were born in the imperial examination. The fixed path of the fifth rank) and Shaoqing of Taichang Temple (the fourth rank) is promoted step by step after nine years of examination.Jian Yi's son Jian Ying, Xia Yuanji's son Xia Xuan, Li Xian's son Li Zhang, and Xu Jie's son Xu Fan all belonged to this category, and the person with the highest position in the end was only the third-rank Tai Changqing.Of course, there are also advantages, such as leisure and stability, and at most showing up at various ceremonies.

Compared with Shangbao Sicheng, Zhongshu Sheren, who performs the duties of secretary, is a real close minister of the emperor, and therefore has always attracted the children of civil and military ministers.Compared with the top-level configuration that had been established earlier, the awarding criteria of Zhongshu Sheren were finally established after long-term changes. This process also well reflects the rising trend of the cabinet status after the mid-Ming Dynasty.

As a writing secretary, of course one must have talent and learning, and good handwriting is also very important: "At the beginning of the country, the scholar who was able to write was specially appointed by the Zhongshu Department to be the scholar of Zhongshu; Give Lin Lu so that Jin can use it to handle documents in various cabinets."

Chu Hanlin is a "handigrapher", and usually needs to go through a "job trial", that is, an internship, before he can be awarded the Chinese Book Sheren, that is, "a handicraft background".There is a loophole to take advantage of. It is not appropriate to ask for an official directly. It is not too much to ask for an internship opportunity to imitate the work of a dog and a horse, right?So there was such a thing as "Take Nai Nai as the Zhongshu Sheren Nai Zhang Guanglu Temple Affairs Department Zuo Shilang Heng's son Heng Wei Nai Ying asked to write a letter for three years, so he was born."

With the hard work of copying the imperial decree for three years, it is logical to ask for "beginning with an example".The consequence of this is that "in the old system of Zhongshu Sheren, there were 36 members and now there are [-] members", and the number of redundant staff is rampant, and the mud and sand are everywhere.

In this way, some ministers who asked themselves that their children had some talents, even if the emperor asked him to favor his descendants, he would not.For example, "Prince Taifu Minister of the Ministry of Officials and Huagaidian University scholar Wan An and others resigned from their sons and Sun Zhongshu Sheren's posts with star changes. The decree: Qing and others have been tutoring in the erotic palace for many years, and each of them hired a son as a reward. No one is allowed to say no to his work.” Compared with those who are struggling to find a job, they are forced to come up immediately.

This kind of differential treatment, on the one hand, reflects the emperor's trust in the cabinet ministers, which itself is an important reason for the rise of the cabinet ministers' status;Coupled with the gradual improvement of Yinzi's entry into prison system as a backing, the threshold for Yinzi to be a member of Zhongshushe has actually been raised.During the Jingtai and Tianshun years, there were many cases of fourth-rank and fifth-rank officials begging for kindness and getting Yinzi Zhongshu Sheren, but in the Zhengde period, the third-rank servant was no longer enough. Xue Kui, the grandson of Xue Xuan, a scholar of the Imperial Academy, still relied on Xue Xuan’s generation of Confucian privileged status.So far, the practice of "Ci Kui and Liu Qing to the first rank, have to worship Zhongshu Sheren" has basically formed.

The above are either special or "high match", what is the normal situation?It was Enyin's son who was the supervisor of the son of the state.Guozijiansheng is not an official position, but the court needs to be more cautious. After all, the above two types are rare, and the system of supervising students is enough to affect the entire talent selection mechanism.Therefore, although there was a case of "begging for permission to send Guozijian" in the early Ming Dynasty, and many descendants of officials "hoped to be imprisoned" after the orthodox rule, the emperor repeatedly imposed various restrictions on the grounds that "Guozijian is a place for nurturing talents and should not be indiscriminate".In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the children of the first assistant were often the son of Enyin, who was born in the prison.

Although it is reasonable to say that as a minister of the cabinet, there is no need to compete with third-rank officials for the number of supervisors, but there are three factors to consider: First, when a general minister is promoted to third-rank, most of his sons will have grown up, and no one will predict it. You can enter the court and let your son stay at home; the second is that before the Zhengde Dynasty, you were the son of a posthumous son, and you will not think about it until you hang up in the court; the third is that there may be more than one son for a bachelor.So even the son of Shoufu is very likely to be a prison student.Moreover, entering an official position as a supervisor has a much brighter future in theory. After all, it is also one of the "right paths" in theory. Although it can't be compared with the imperial examination after the mid-term, it is not a problem to have a father who is the chief assistant of the cabinet. .

Take the notorious Yan Shifan as an example. After he supervised students and dropped out of school, he first served as the military governor's mansion (internship), and then was promoted to Shuntian Mansion Zhizhong, which is considered a normal promotion.In the 22nd year of Jiajing, Yan Song sought out Shang Baocheng for him. Zheng Xiao, an official editor of the Ministry of Officials, believed that "it is an example to move the magistrate to the government. There is no story to move to Shangbao." In fact, although the government of Shuntian Prefecture is in Beijing, it is often more like Foreign officials, this is an invisible gap.And it is not unusual for Yan Song to choose the position of Shangbao Sicheng, after all, this is the treatment that the son of the chief assistant can enjoy theoretically.What is really difficult to replicate is the speed of rocket promotion afterwards. In a few years, he jumped several levels from Shaoqing, the fifth-rank Shangbao Secretary, to Zuo Shilang, the third-rank Ministry of Industry.

In addition to Yan Shifan, Shang Ren was the first assistant during the Chenghua period, and Shang Liangfu, the second son, also entered the Imperial Academy first, and was then awarded the position of head of the Ministry of Rites, and finally became an official from the third rank of Taipu Siqing.

Compared with the above, what is even worse is the Enyin military position.Needless to say, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the nobles and the military were cheap, and they were reduced to the ranks of the military. It can be seen that the level of education is really not good enough.

Zhao Zhenji's grandson, Zhao Zuyin, later chose Enyin Zhongshu Sheren, and eventually he only got mixed up with the prefect in the border of Yunnan; Zhang Juzheng's fourth son, Zhang Jianxiu, was even worse. Brothers are not far behind.

(End of this chapter)