Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 999 [There are also people in the education system]

Chui Gong Hall.

Yu Shanwei knelt in the hall while Zhu Ming casually browsed through the list of artworks.

After a long while, Zhu Ming finally spoke: "You used to be very smart and cautious, but now you are only smart and not cautious at all?"

Yu Shanwei replied: "The five colors dazzle the eyes and corrode the mind."

Zhu Ming said: "I actually reminded you, but you still don't know how to restrain yourself."

Yu Shanwei's eyes became confused. She really didn't realize it. When did the emperor remind her?
Zhu Ming said, "Your business in Luoyang has been growing bigger and bigger since two years ago. Since then, have the Queen and Concubine Zheng stopped going there?"

Yu Shanwei suddenly realized.

The concubines rarely left the palace, and it was even rarer for them to attend her activities, which happened only once a year at most. Empress Zhang and Concubine Zheng had not gone for two consecutive years, and of course they had their own excuses. Yu Shanwei really didn't think that it was the emperor who was stopping them.

If it was ten years ago, she would definitely be able to notice it!

At that time, Wang's every effort to gain personal advantage made Yu Shanwei quite unhappy, and he even reminded Meng Zhao not to get too close to Qin Hui.

But what happened next?

There were countless noble ladies like Wang among Yu Shanwei. Wang had to pretend to be a shrewd lady, but many noble ladies didn't even pretend, which made Wang look normal.

Zhu Ming said: "Your rally is still very good, but it needs to be corrected."

Yu Shanwei felt blessed and said quickly, "Please give me your instructions, sir!"

Zhu Ming said: "First, don't do it in the capital; second, no money should be traded; third, invite more researchers in natural sciences. Among the harem, only the queen likes those studies, but it is not convenient for her to show up often."

Yu Shanwei savored these words carefully, and finally said, "I will obey the emperor's order."

"Go ahead," Zhu Ming waved his hand, "Before you leave Luoyang, you can go to the palace to pay your respects to the empress."

"I'll take my leave." Yu Shan bowed slightly and stepped back.

Men are subjects and women are concubines. "Subjects and concubines" generally refers to the ruled. It can also be turned into a verb. "Subjects and concubines rule the world" means to rule the world.

When Yu Shanwei met the emperor before, she always called herself "I" normally, but this time she was so scared that she called herself "concubine".

She went to the harem to meet Zhang Jinping and Zheng Yuanyi, and then left Luoyang with her husband, without waiting to sell the imperial mansion. She only left a loyal servant behind to facilitate the broker to bring people to view the house.

They did not go to Wangchuan Valley to join Zhu Guoxiang, but instead tried to figure out the emperor's will and look for a suitable location.

The couple spent half a year and finally chose to settle in Gong County (Gongyi). They bought a piece of mountain in Dayugou and used all their money for construction, even the money from the subsequent sale of the granted house was invested in it.

This mountain range was renamed Baisha Mountain.

The newly built academy on the mountain was named Yuxiu Academy.

This place is located between Kaifeng and Luoyang, making it convenient for inviting scholars from the eastern and western capitals to gather.

The name of Yuxiu Academy also has a beautiful meaning, representing that the students who study here can go straight to the Dragon Gate in spring and become dragons. ("There is a cave at the foot of Baisha Mountain that leads to the river. There are yellow croakers in the cave. In spring, they go to the Dragon Gate, so it is called Yuxiu." - Erya Yi.)
It was a bit difficult to recruit students at the moment, so the couple gave free lessons to children from nearby villages before the academy was built.

When the construction is almost complete, they will mobilize their previous connections and invite scholars of various disciplines to teach in the academy. With famous teachers, there will naturally be no shortage of students.

……

The case is still under trial and Min Zishun is in danger.

Before he went to the Dali Temple for tea, he had sent his loyal servants back to his hometown to raise money and return as much of the stolen money as possible.

His house in Luoyang had been sealed by the imperial court, and he could not sell it even if he wanted to. Even the property in the house was sealed.

Fat Zheng's mother passed away. After three months of mourning, he returned to find that the capital was in turmoil.

As soon as he got off the boat, he saw a group of criminals in shackles walking towards him not far away.

"I know that man. He's Qin Hui's brother-in-law, Wang Chang!" a scholar in the crowd shouted.

Someone was amazed: "Before it was Wang, and now it's Wang Chang. Apart from those who are already dead, are all the brothers-in-law of Qin Hui going to be arrested?"

"Of course, birds of a feather flock together. I heard that Qin Hui embezzled a lot of money!"

“These corrupt officials should have been arrested long ago.”

"I have a neighbor who works as a jailer in the Ministry of Justice. I heard that Min Zishun is in trouble this time. Eight of his accomplices were arrested in the past few days."

"..."

Zheng Hong was stunned on the spot. Min Zishun was also arrested?

He has always had a bad impression of Min Zishun and thinks that this man is too pretentious.

After all, Fatty Zheng was a poor student in Yangzhou Academy, while Min Zishun was the best student in Yangzhou Academy.

But even if the impression was not good, they were from the same hometown and classmate after all. The wives of the two were very close and often made appointments to attend Yu Shanwei's activities.

Fat Zheng asked his wife, Li, in a low voice: "You and Min Zishun's wife don't have any financial dealings, right?" Li was a little unsure: "Exchanging gifts during festivals, does that count as financial dealings?"

"As long as it's not expensive," said Fat Zheng.

Li said, "She gave me a fur coat worth several hundred strings of cash, which was the most valuable gift. But I also gave her a South Sea gold bead in return, which is more valuable than the fur coat. I can't lose face for my husband."

Fatty Zheng smiled and said, "That's fine."

The Zheng family is now the richest in Hanzhong. His brothers are not good at business, but his cousins ​​and nephews are good at business. They mainly deal in grain, tea and tung oil. After his brother-in-law's house was confiscated, the Zheng family also paid to buy part of the money and jewelry business of his father-in-law's family.

His cousins ​​and nephews were bound to bully others when doing business, but Fat Zheng himself was absolutely not greedy as an official.

Dare not be greedy.

In a major case a few years ago, Zheng Hong was scared to death by his brother-in-law’s house being searched!

Just as the couple was whispering, another official ship docked and Fan Tong's family was escorted off the ship.

Fan Tong was Qin Hui's top general, with outstanding achievements in previous years. This time, he was in charge of water conservancy in Ningxia and was arrested along with his wife and children.

Also arrested at the same time were several of Fan Tong's subordinates.

Fatty Zheng muttered, "I'm afraid Qin Hui and his party will be uprooted."

Fan Tong was wearing shackles, with the skin on his wrists and neck worn out. He was urged to enter the city in a trance, staring at the city gates with lifeless eyes, looking as if he was a walking corpse.

Given his ability to get things done, he could have been promoted based purely on his political achievements, but not so quickly.

He first tried to follow Wei Liangchen's path, but Wei Liangchen refused to help. Then he tried to follow Qin Hui's path, and the two hit it off. Not only did he get promoted quickly, but he also made a lot of money.

Fan Tong even believed that he would be promoted to Minister of Works within ten years because he completed more than 20 water conservancy projects with guaranteed quality!

After working so hard and making outstanding achievements, what's wrong with taking a little money? It's all what you deserve.

……

Qin Hui is still squeezing out the toothpaste in the Dali Temple, confessing his accomplices bit by bit, and he can probably drag it out for two or three months at most.

"Who confessed today?" Li Gang, who had just been transferred to the Ministry of Justice, was very active.

Qin Hui casually mentioned a name: "He Ruo."

Li Gang said: "Someone has already betrayed him, please find another one."

Qin Hui smiled and said, "Su Zhuo."

"Who were you talking about just now?" Li Gang was surprised when he heard it.

Qin Hui repeated in detail: "Su Zhuo, Deputy Censor of Guangdong and Commissioner of Education."

This official position is not very important in this year's case.

But Su Zhuo's identity is quite special, he is Su Zhe's grandson!
Zhu Guoxiang was quite nice to the descendants of the three Su brothers, because Wen Xiaomei's grandfather had a very good relationship with the three Su brothers. Zhu Guoxiang himself also particularly liked the three Su brothers.

Li Gang questioned: "Even if Su Zhu had something to ask for, he would go to the emperor, how could he become your follower?"

Qin Hui said with a smile:

"He has been imprisoned by the clique since he was young. What can't he do to get an official position? In the early Song Dynasty, he shamelessly followed the path of the six thieves and got a nominal position as a magistrate."

"A nominal position is a nominal position after all, and he wanted to get a real position. He went to the retired emperor to ask for an official position. The retired emperor thought he was very knowledgeable, so he kept him in the Hanlin Academy to study classics and history. But Su Zhu wanted to be sent out, and he went to see the retired emperor again after not long. The retired emperor tested him and felt that he had no ability in civil affairs, so he sent Su Zhu out to be a school official."

"He did a good job as a school official, but he still wanted to govern a region. Taking the opportunity of returning to the capital to report on his work, he went to see the retired emperor. At that time, the retired emperor had not yet abdicated, and for the sake of Concubine Wen's face, he let Su Zhu try to be a county magistrate. Haha, this guy thought he was in the previous dynasty. He traveled around all day and left all government affairs to the chief clerk. The chief clerk took the opportunity to embezzle and pervert the law, making a mess of the county. He was arrested when the national officialdom was rectified."

"Su Zhu was also implicated for not governing his subordinates strictly, and was demoted to a remote county to serve as a teacher. At this time, the emperor had abdicated and no longer managed court affairs, so he used his connections to ask for an audience with Your Majesty. Your Majesty looked at his resume and probably gave face to the emperor's wife, so he promoted Su Zhu to a professor at the county school."

"This county school professor is not as good as the original Hanlin official. Su Zhu worked for three years and then found me and asked me to ask for his promotion to the position of provincial school professor. Later, I helped him several times and promoted him to the position of education commissioner. In fact, it didn't take much effort. He did have political achievements as a school official."

Li Gang asked, "Did he commit corruption and pervert the law?"

Qin Hui said: "He sent some students to the Imperial College illegally. The imperial examination process was strict, and he dared not and could not cheat. But there were loopholes in the examinations of the prefectural schools. I have several children and grandchildren of my subordinates who were first transferred to the place where Su Zhuo was employed, and then he arranged them to study in the prefectural official school. Then, they leaked the questions during the graduation examinations, and were able to be promoted to the Imperial College smoothly."

"How audacious!" Li Gang was furious. This thing involved the education system.

Qin Hui laughed and said, "There are loopholes in the official school examinations. I'm afraid there are many people doing this across the country. Can you still arrest them all?"

Li Gang said: "Don't be arrogant. Although it involves too many people, it is okay to arrest a few people as examples. In the future, we just need to plug the loopholes!"

Qin Hui yawned: "I am not energetic and need to sleep again."

Li Gang said sternly: "Just take your time to sleep. You won't be able to sleep for a few days!"

Qin Hui sighed: "One more day of life is one more day."

(End of this chapter)