Mixed with salted fish in Hongwudang

Chapter 475 His Majesty the Emperor wants to abdicate?

Lao Zhu highly affirmed Ni Sun's method, but soon felt something was wrong.

"wrong!"

"What if the test results are the same?"

Zhu Yunxi felt a headache when he heard this.

"Grandfather, if the results of the two examinations are the same, it can only explain one problem."

"What's the problem?"

"You old emperor is not qualified!"

"hiss!"

Liu Sanwu, who had just been kicked down by Lao Zhu, gasped when he heard this.

The grandson of the emperor is too daring to say it!
This is tantamount to questioning the emperor's level of governance!

The other examiners locked in the examination shed were also startled when they heard this, secretly thinking that something was wrong and that the old emperor was about to lose his temper again.

Sure enough, Lao Zhu was stunned for a moment, and raised his foot to take his anger out on his eldest grandson, but unexpectedly, Ni Sun was well prepared and easily dodged by rolling on the ground with a donkey.

"Grandpa Huang, don't be impatient, at least listen to me!"

Lao Zhu was almost pissed off by his own grandson, so he just moved out of the palace without saying a word. Now that he hasn't seen each other for several days, it's really wrong to be angry with him as soon as he meets him!
"What else do you have to say!"

"Grandfather, this is indeed your fault!"

"Think about it. It has been 27 years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. There is still such a big gap in the education level between the north and the south. Who is it that you, the emperor, are not to blame?"

"Uh uh..."

When Lao Zhu heard this, he was speechless for a while. According to the grandson's theory, it seems that the blame really has to be blamed on himself.

"Even if there is a gap, it can't be that big, right?"

In fact, this is also what Zhu Yunxi was puzzled about.

It is an indisputable fact that there is a gap in the education level between the north and the south of Ming Dynasty.

But all the scholars in the north failed the election, which is a bit unreasonable, right?

Is the level of northern scholars really poor?
"Grandfather, grandson is also suspicious of this matter, so he said that someone should re-read the paper."

Old Zhu sighed secretly when he heard the words.

"All right!"

"Let's send people from the six parts to come over and review the papers!"

"However, none of these people can let go before the papers are graded!"

Zhu Yunxi nodded quickly, coaxed Lao Zhu to go to the main house of the Gong Yuan, and then ordered people to go to the Six Departments to arrest people and come over to review the papers.

In order to speed up the efficiency of marking papers, Zhu Yunxi also called his three masters and a group of students from Hope School to help.

Yang Xinlu, Gao Ming, and Qin Hengbo were naturally the chief and deputy examiners for the second examination, and the Jinshi captured by the Six Departments served as the examiners for each room.

Although there are several times more examiners in the second examination than in the first examination, in the face of tens of thousands of examination papers, you can't see anything for a while.

Zhu Yunxi originally wanted to persuade the grandpa to go back to the palace to rest, and then show him the results here.

However, Lao Zhu was determined that his subordinates lied to him, and he would not go back alive, so he had to stay here and watch.

"Grandfather, are you really not going back to the palace?"

"No return!"

"These treacherous ministers are used to cheating, we have to keep an eye on them here!"

After the old Zhuhao finished speaking in a dry voice, he thought that the eldest grandson would accompany him to stare at him, but he never thought that the grandson would bow to him, said hard work, and ran away!

"Grandpa Huang worked hard, grandson will go back to catch up on sleep first!"

Lao Zhu looked at his grandson's back gradually going away, and really wanted to slap himself both.

How old is he? Do you pretend to be diligent in front of this grandson to look young?
"Get out of here!"

"If you want to sleep, let's go back to sleep..."

"never!"

"You just take your time, hahaha!"

"You rebellious grandson!"

Lao Zhu watched Dasun run away like a rabbit, with a helpless wry smile on his face, and then ordered someone to flatten the reclining chair, and then covered himself with a blanket, and just spent time with a group of chief and deputy examiners.

Seeing his disciples acting like this, Gao Ming could only shake his head helplessly, and then continued to bury his head in the test paper.

Three days later, all [-] test papers were reviewed.

To everyone's surprise, the results of the two examinations were basically the same.

Why is it basically the same? All the candidates admitted for the first time were Jiangnan candidates. Although the list for the second admission was slightly different, the candidates admitted were still from Jiangnan.

When Lao Zhu saw the two admission lists that were not bad, he was completely dumbfounded.

"Is there really such a big difference in education between the north and the south of Ming Dynasty?"

Zhu Yunxi ignored Lao Zhu upon hearing the words, but continued to stare at the list in his hand.

The second examination fully absorbed the experience of the first examination, not only recorded the list of the top [-], but also ranked all the ones after the [-].

Zhu Yunxi searched the list for a long time, and finally found the name of a northern scholar outside the three hundred.Then I wanted to find the second one, and I found about fifty others.

"Grandpa Huang, you are right. The gap between the north and the south is really too big."

"According to the ranking of the Northern and Southern Unified Examinations, the highest ranking of northern scholars is only 320, which means that we can only admit a northerner if we admit 320 Jinshi at a time!"

When Lao Zhu heard this, 1 people didn't believe it. He immediately dropped the list and ordered someone to bring over the papers of the northern scholars.

However, if you don't look at it, you won't know it, but at first glance...it's really far away.

Not to mention comparing with the first paper in the examination, even compared with the last in the examination, there is a big gap in arts and sciences, and it is still the kind of gap that can be seen at a glance.

It can be seen from this that Qi Tai and the others did not bend the law for personal gain, and they were indeed fair and impartial when grading papers.

But Lao Zhu still couldn't accept this result. The Daming Jiangshan he worked so hard to build was not half of the Ming Dynasty, but the entire Daming including Jiangnan and Jiangbei.

Let this group of scholars do it, what will the people of the world think?
Doesn't it mean that in the eyes of the emperor, there are only people from the south of the Yangtze River, and no people from the north?

But the gap between the two test papers is too obvious, Lao Zhu can't help but use his status as the emperor to activate the skill of talking nonsense.

"Let's see that Han Kezhong's paper is pretty good. Even if he can't enter the first and second grades, it's still no problem to give him a third grade..."

All the examiners in the Tribute Court look at me and I look at you, everyone's face is full of speechlessness.

The emperor not only blinded himself, but also wanted them to follow suit!

"You are all dumb, why don't you talk, what are we talking about?"

"Your Majesty Shengming!"

"Your Majesty said yes, it must be true!"

"The ministers and others all take orders!"

When Lao Zhu heard what the examiners said, he couldn't help but blush.

What a shame!

These guys might be laughing at us in their hearts!
The northern scholars are also true, why can't they write a few better articles if they are not up to date?
"Let's see that Wang Shu's test paper is not bad. Although he didn't avoid our grandfather's taboo, we can't blame this child entirely. After all, our grandfather Zhu Chuyi, this taboo is indeed a bit difficult to avoid..."

When Yang Xinlu and the others heard this, they all nodded secretly, thinking that His Majesty the Emperor finally said something human this time.

The taboo of the emperor's family is really hard to avoid. Grandfather Zhu Chuyi, father Zhu Wusi, and later changed his name to Zhu Shizhen, but no matter before or after the name change, there is not a single uncommon word. Are all common words? Candidates are so shy!

The so-called taboo refers to the taboo of the emperor's name and the names of the emperor's ancestors during the imperial examination.

According to the rules of the imperial examination, once you commit a taboo, no matter how wonderful your essay is, you will not be admitted.

Old Zhu was trying to pull out the big one, but he couldn't pull it out, so he had to take the initiative to relax the admission conditions and cut off his grandfather's taboo first.

"Your Majesty Shengming!"

"Your Majesty's eagerness to seek virtue is enough to move the heavens, the world, and all scholars!"

This time their flattery came from the heart.

After all, it is too difficult to avoid taboos, and one day you may accidentally commit a taboo.

The emperor took the initiative to downgrade, which is a great thing for scholars all over the world.

Lao Zhu listened to everyone's flattery, his face secretly showing complacency, then he took out another test paper and looked at it, bragging while suppressing the discomfort.

"Is Jiao Sheng's test paper okay?"

Hearing this, Gao Ming quickly raised his head to take a look. He had an impression of this paper. It was written in a stereotyped format, but many places were copied mechanically, and the literary level was quite average.

"Your Majesty thinks it's okay?"

Lao Zhu looked at the paper again with a guilty conscience.

"No... can't you?"

Yang Xinlu closed his eyes resignedly.

"Fine!"

"Your Majesty will do as you say, and I have no objection!"

Lao Zhu was still a little bit afraid of Gao Ming, after all he beheaded his own brother in a fit of rage.

However, after seeing Gao Ming's perfunctory attitude, Lao Zhu still broke his defense.

"Old Man Gao!"

"Who are you talking about in a weird way!"

"We are indeed inferior to you in terms of learning, but in terms of being emperor, ten of you can't compare with us!"

"Do you think that the imperial examination only depends on the quality of the article?"

"This thing has to balance the north and south, and reconcile the east and west!"

"After all, our Ming Dynasty not only has a few provinces in the south of the Yangtze River, but also a few provinces in the north!"

"The northern provinces have been ruled by the Hulu for hundreds of years, and it has only been less than 30 years since they were naturalized in the Ming Dynasty. Now you have deposed them all through a single test paper. What do you make the northerners think, what do the northern scholars think!"

"Furthermore, the northern scholars are not useless. The northerners are not as talented as the southerners in their articles, but the northerners can endure hardships and stand hard work, and they are hardworking and willing to do things. This is incomparable to you southerners!"

Gao Ming grunted when he heard this.

"Your Majesty, humble officials can endure hardships, and they are serious in doing things..."

Hearing this, Lao Zhu gave Gao Ming a hard look, and said angrily.

"You are different!"

"A person like you is considered different among the southerners!"

"Let me just ask you, is what we said unreasonable!"

Hearing Lao Zhu's questioning like this, Gao Ming could only kneel on the ground and sincerely apologize to Lao Zhu.

"I know I was wrong!"

"My minister is only judging from the perspective of literature and theory, but your majesty does judge from the perspective of the world. Naturally, my minister can't compare with your majesty..."

Seeing Gao Ming being such a proud old man, Lao Zhu apologized to himself, and his heart felt as refreshed as if he had eaten ice cream in the dog days.

"Hi!"

"It's fine if you know you're shallow, we're not the ones to be unreasonable..."

Gao Ming's head, which was already deeply buried, suddenly lifted up when he heard this, and looked straight at Lao Zhu.

I thought to myself, this old man really dares to say, what kind of generous person do he really think he is?

But Lao Zhu ignored Gao Ming, and was completely intoxicated by his own little knowledge, unable to extricate himself from the light of the holy candle.

"That's what we think."

"Isn't five or sixty people admitted directly for each imperial examination? Let's take more points this time and directly admit 60 people!"

"Then select some people from the northern scholars and try to achieve a balance between the north and the south..."

"Grandfather, grandson thinks this method is inappropriate!"

As soon as Lao Zhu heard Dasun's rebellion, he roared angrily.

"To shut up!"

"We didn't ask your opinion!"

"Grandson thinks it's better to take the exam again, only the northern scholars will be tested, and then it will be designated as the northern list..."

"Get out!"

Zhu Yunxi saw that Lao Zhu started to be unreasonable again, and immediately walked out angrily, but after walking two steps, Lao Zhu stopped him again.

"Wait, what did you just say?"

Zhu Yunxi was so angry that he didn't say anything, but the masters around him hurriedly said it for him.

"Your Majesty, just now the Emperor Taisun said that the northern scholars can take the exam alone and set it as the northern list, to show that your majesty treats the north and the south equally."

"middle!"

"That's a great word!"

Old Zhu was so happy that he was dancing. If it wasn't for the gravitational pull of the earth, this old man would probably be able to fly into outer space.

"It has to be our good grandson, this little brain is so fast!"

"Hahaha!"

When the people in the tribute courtyard saw Lao Zhu's vigor, they murmured in their hearts.

This is really the grandson's own good, no matter what he says, he can be praised as a treasure!
What kind of bad idea did the emperor's grandson come up with? It's not clear that it is biased towards the north. Is it unfair to the scholars in the south?

Furthermore, northern scholars may not appreciate it.

Once the imperial examinations are divided into northern and southern rankings, isn't it known that the northern scholars are not well-educated?
In this way, the gold content of Beibang can be greatly reduced.

Some people slander in their hearts, while others are outspoken.

"Your Majesty, I feel that this method is inappropriate!"

"The imperial examination is a grand ceremony for the imperial court to select talents. Its original intention is to select talents for the country, and only talents are selected."

"Is it fair to the southern scholars once the northern list is published?"

"It should be noted that scholars in the south also studied hard for ten years, all the way to be a scholar, and passed the examination. Then because of the poor knowledge of the northern scholars, they were deprived of their qualifications as Jinshi. This is too unfair to the southern scholars. Come on!"

The person who said this was Zhang Bingyan, the servant of the Ministry of Rites. He was originally a Jiangnan candidate and knew the hardships of Jiangnan candidates.

There are so many cultures in the south of the Yangtze River, and it is already extremely difficult to select a scholar or a candidate, and now there is a north-south ranking for Jinshi, which is too unfair to southern scholars.

When Zhang Bingyan said this, it resonated with many Jiangnan examiners. Many people expressed their support and wanted to win over the Jiangnan examinees.

However, the examiners who marked the papers this time were half south and half north.

The officials from the north also thought about their fellow countrymen, and they spat at the officials from the south one by one with their mouths open.

On the one hand, he said that he paid a lot of taxes and the imperial examinations were difficult and difficult.

On the other hand, he said that it is difficult for him to eat, and how difficult it is to live frugally and study.

Playing the emotional card while pretending to be poor.

Not long after, people from both parties quarreled in the Gongyuan.

Lao Zhu was really annoyed by these people, he picked up the inkstone and smashed it on the table.

"Shut up!"

Fortunately, Lao Zhu has accumulated a lot of authority after years of decisive killing.Seeing that Lao Zhu was furious, everyone hurriedly bowed to apologize, and then obediently went to stand beside him.

Seeing that everyone shut up, Lao Zhu snorted coldly and said.

"We are the emperor, or you are the emperor!"

"How decent it is to make a lot of noise!"

"Didn't we just say that we are not the emperor of the people in Jiangnan, we are the emperor of the entire Ming Dynasty!"

"Since we are in front of Daming's house, we must have a bowl of water, right?"

Zhang Bingyan couldn't help muttering when he heard this.

"The key is that the water is not level..."

When Lao Zhu heard this, he picked up the inkstone and threw it at it.

"To shut up!"

"Did we let you talk!"

"Everyone has no courtesy!"

"If we didn't want to accumulate some evil virtues for our grandson, we would push you all out and chop them up!"

Everyone was stunned when they heard this. No wonder His Majesty the Emperor didn't kill people in recent years. Even if it was a vigorous whipping method, the gentry would be demoted if they could, exiled if they could, and seldom used swords.

It turned out that it was because of the emperor's grandson!

Everyone thought of this, and then looked at the emperor's grandson with a lot of enthusiasm, and there was a little more gratitude in their eyes.

Seeing everyone looking at him, Zhu Yunxi couldn't help puffing out his chest and giving him a warm smile.

hum!

This time, I know that my great-grandson is fine. If my great-grandson didn't help you bear the anger of the emperor's grandfather, the six officials in the court may have changed a few times!

"Everyone, don't embarrass Grandpa Huang. Grandpa Huang governs the nine continents and all directions. It is extremely difficult to reconcile Yin and Yang. How can he be completely fair in every aspect?"

"However, since you all feel that it is unfair to the south, let's make a further comment. Let's do it in one step and divide the north and south rankings into three rankings: north, middle and south."

"The north is dominated by North Zhili, Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, and Shaanxi; the middle volume is dominated by Sichuan, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Lu, Feng, Xu, Chu, and three prefectures; South volume."

"Then the admission ratio also needs to be adjusted. How about tentatively setting it as [-]?"

"Northern and Southern rankings each account for four, and the middle rankings account for two."

"In addition, Nanbang added ten additional Jinshi students on the basis of accounting for four."

"The reason for giving ten more places to Jiangnan is that Jiangnan has the largest number of scholars, and secondly, it is because Jiangnan accounts for more than half of the world's taxes and taxes. It has made great contributions to the dynasty!"

"I don't know if you think this method is feasible?"

As soon as Zhu Yunxi's words came out, the centrists in the Gong Yuan, regardless of whether they were in the north or the south, began to think about it secretly.

The area on the middle list has the least population, so they are quite satisfied if they can earn a fixed [-]%.If there is no guarantee of this system, they may not be admitted to a Jinshi for several years.

The people in Beibang are also very satisfied. According to the distribution method of the emperor's grandson, it is much easier than their bayonet fight with southern scholars every year.

Judging from the number of admissions from the north and the south in the past, it would be considered good if there were [-] admissions and ten northerners.

However, according to the new law of the emperor's grandson, at least dozens of scholars from the north can be recruited, which seems to be a good deal at first glance.

Only the officials from the south of the Yangtze River were very dissatisfied, because if they really counted according to the quality of the essays, their candidates from the south of the Yangtze River would have the strength to dominate the rankings.

But looking at it now, whether it is the old emperor or the grandson of the emperor, it is impossible for the court to be full of officials from the south of the Yangtze River.

Therefore, they have to retreat if they don't want to!

What's more, the emperor's grandson has already taken good care of them and gave them ten extra places.

If we look at the number of admissions over the years, the average number of admissions in the previous scientific examinations in the Ming Dynasty was only about 60 people.

The extra ten people are not [-]%, but nearly [-]%!

The officials from the south of the Yangtze River felt that they were not too bad after making such a calculation, so they could only reluctantly agree.

Seeing that everyone had no objection, Lao Zhu immediately laughed happily.

"Since all your lovers are satisfied with this method, let's issue an imperial edict to implement this method and make this method a permanent rule, so that future generations of imperial examinations will follow this method!"

"Your Majesty Shengming!"

"Emperor Grandson Shengming!"

Lao Zhu lost himself again amidst the cries of flattery. This time he not only danced and danced, but even gave food to everyone for the first time, inviting them to eat and drink in the palace.

During the banquet, Lao Zhu naturally praised his grandson from time to time for growing up, so that he can share his worries for his grandpa.

At the same time, he also expressed his feelings about being old and useless.

This made some officials with keen eyes see the opportunity immediately.

His Majesty the Emperor wants to abdicate?

Otherwise, why would he say this? Isn't it just to prepare for the future abdication!
Gao Ming, Yang Xinlu and others were also given a banquet by His Majesty the Emperor, and when they heard His Majesty lamented that they were getting old, they felt secretly happy.

Although they wished that the grandson of the emperor would ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor immediately, they still maintained some rationality in their hearts.

Since ancient times, there has never been abdication happily. Even if the old emperor himself revealed this meaning, as the grandson of the emperor, he had to persuade him a few words, saying that his majesty's sword is not old, and he still needs to rely on the emperor's grandfather and the like.

Only three words and three concessions can be regarded as a full set of tricks.

However, just as the three of them stretched their necks all over the hall to look for Zhu Yunxi like groundhogs, wanting him to persuade His Majesty the Emperor, they found that the grandson of the emperor was missing!
"Where's the grandson of the emperor?"

"How would I know!"

"Obviously I saw him tearing up roasted chicken just now!"

"Hurry up and find His Highness, let His Highness persuade His Majesty!"

"Then you two eat first, I will go out to find His Highness..."

"Go!"

Yang Xinlu came out of Fengtian Hall, asked the guards guarding the gate, and learned that the grandson of the emperor had gone in the direction of Qianqing Palace, so he immediately trotted towards the apse with a big belly.

However, as soon as Yang Xinlu ran to the back left door, he saw a young man wearing the costume of the county king, lying furtively at the door and peeking outside.

There are not many county kings who can walk in the palace, and it is not His Majesty's birthday, nor is it a major celebration, and the princes and clans have not entered the capital, so there is only one county king left in the palace, and that is Zhu Yunqi.

"His Royal Highness King Wan?"

"Shh!"

Seeing this, Yang Xinlu also walked over lightly, following Zhu Yunqi's example and peeking outside.

However, after just one glance, Yang Xinlu felt his scalp go numb, and his heart rose to his throat.

At the gate of Qianqing Palace, Zhu Yunxi was touching a woman dressed as a concubine, and the woman kept waving her hands, as if avoiding the emperor's grandson's molestation.

Yang Xinlu hurriedly stretched out his big hand, covered Zhu Yunqi's eyes, and then dragged him aside.

"His Royal Highness, this matter is very important, you must not go out and talk nonsense!"

Zhu Yunwen rolled his eyes.

"it is good!"

"But you have to promise me something, let Zhu Yunxi equip me with the equipment of the three guards and horses!"

"At the same time, I can't let him obstruct my marriage with my cousin Chang's family!"

When Yang Xinlu heard this, he wished he could spit on Zhu Yunwen's face.

This guy really dares to ask for a price!
How much is the equipment of the three guards and horses worth?
This is just the money for the equipment and not the horses!
If war horses are counted, a million taels will not be able to beat it!
As for the marriage with the Chang family, it's even more ridiculous. How many teacups and inkstones did the emperor's grandson smash because of this matter?
The Chang family even said that they would rather beat their daughter to death than marry her to Zhu Yunqi!

However, Yang Xinlu struggled again and again, but still accepted the humiliation.

"can!"

"But if the old man hears any gossip, don't even think about what you said!"

"Master Yang, don't worry, I just want to be a fan now, and I will never compete with my third brother!"

Yang Xinlu sighed sadly when he heard the words.

"I hope His Royal Highness Prince Wan will remember today's words!"

(End of this chapter)