Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 101 The importance of public opinion guidance

Seeing Jia Lian's dull contemplation, Jia She immediately got up and went out, and came to the front yard in a hurry. The horses were ready. Jia She got on the horse skillfully and drove to the east cross courtyard with a sound.

Jia Lian worked hard in the study to compare it with the original work one by one, but found that it was not consistent at all. Many things in the original work were just vague sentences, such as "Old Prince Zhongyi broke something", which was really difficult for those red scholars. It is ridiculous to say that this can be used as a subject of knowledge, but it is actually sad. The cultural trauma caused by three hundred years of foreign rule will take a long time to integrate and recover.

Only when the integration is completed and the vitality is restored can this nation usher in another new life.

So, what about the chaos of demons? History will remember everything!

Ercao's body and name will die, and the rivers will not be abandoned forever.

Oops, I think too much, think too much, and think too far.

Thinking too much will disturb your mind, but thinking further will make you calm.

If you observe any event in the historical dimension, you will find that the twinkling stars in the historical sky of five thousand years or more have condensed into an unstoppable heroic spirit of the nation!

Jia Lian didn't notice that Jia She left. He didn't realize that Jia She had left until he came back to his soul. He couldn't help but laugh. He originally planned to ask about the marriage, but he never thought that the old man was busy going out to show off. I must have been tortured a lot last night, and the process of showing off was not entirely enjoyable. In Jia Lian's opinion, the way this matter was handled was purely political.

It is a dream to expect any regime to make the struggles at the top transparent. The things we see are all the result of selective recording, not to mention the competition between the people in power at that time.

When thinking of this, Jia Lian seemed to have the answer to one thing, that is, how did Jia Zheng become an official.

During the period of one family and two fathers, before the emperor ascended the throne, the Jia family had the strength to remain objective and neutral. Feeling threatened, the Supreme Emperor began to suppress the Jia family for a long time. When Jia Daishan was still alive, Jia Jing could successfully participate in the imperial examination. Once Jia Daishan left, Jia Zheng had no chance to take the imperial examination. It completely cut off the opportunity for this generation to take the imperial examination path and reach the top of the civil service.

"So, should I be happy?" Jia Lian couldn't help but muttered to himself as he put everything together.

In the end, Jia Lian sighed and stopped thinking about it. The reality is before us. As a representative of the new generation, Jia Lian is trapped by the current situation of the Jia family. He will definitely not be able to stop after ten or eight years.

[By the way, I have to write a letter to Wang Xifeng. This training opportunity cannot be missed. It is estimated that Wang Xifeng also experienced ups and downs last night. ] Thinking of this, Jia Lian immediately started grinding and unfolded the paper in front of him.

As soon as the letter was finished and the ink was not dry, Guixiang came in and said, "Second Master, sister Ping'er is here."

When he stood up and looked back, he saw Ping'er with a rosy face and a flash of light in his eyes, staring at Jia Lian unable to look away.

When they looked at each other, Ping'er quickly lowered his head and said in a low voice: "My maid would like to say hello to my uncle, and congratulate him on his triumph in the examination. In the coming year..."

"We will have another good news in the spring of next year. We will use an eight-person sedan to carry your lady in as soon as possible." Jia Lian accepted the words with a smile. Ping'er's chin touched his collarbone after hearing this, and his exposed neck was also red.

It is normal for a girl to be pregnant, especially for someone like Ping'er, who has long known that she will come with the dowry.

"Feng'er and I have a close connection. Look, I just wrote the letter." Jia Lian took the letter and handed it to Ping'er. After she took the letter, he launched a surprise attack, hugged her waist with both hands and said with a smile: "First Charge some interest!”

Ping'er felt like he was about to stop breathing, his body temperature instantly rose, and his soul was out of control at this moment, floating around.

Fortunately, Jia Lian's sneak attack didn't last long, and he let go in just ten seconds.

"The young lady asked the servant to deliver the message..." Ping'er paused as he spoke, and finally managed to straighten out his words before continuing; "The young lady was very frightened yesterday, and the Wang family was all anxious. At home, The master said that the matter was too big for him to take charge of, so he could only keep calm. With the left and right lieutenants away, the Jia family and the Wang family would be fine. The young lady felt a little more at ease now."

Well, what happened yesterday was indeed quite exciting. Wang Zisheng's response must be praised as "stable".

"The more unexpected it is, the more important it is to be steady. My father-in-law is very mature and steady in his handling. Tell Feng'er, I don't mean to blame anyone, and no one expected it." Jia Lian didn't say much, after all, the swords and swords last night were out of sight. , Jia Lian himself is also a rootless tree floating in the waves.

Even those who are doing things in the dark are still in the dark about the development and direction of things. Only the two people who took over the chess game knew the basic truth of the matter. No one could tell clearly who was the original instigator.

In Qianqing Palace, Emperor Chenghui was still reviewing what happened last night. Xia Shouzhong was still kneeling on the ground, waiting patiently.

Should it be investigated? It should be investigated. After the Supreme Emperor entered the scene, the investigation could not be carried out with great fanfare.

Father and son, who are competing against each other, can only try to win as much support as possible. Judging from the progress, the trend of Qingyun's lineage from now on should be to focus on the Supreme Emperor. From Emperor Chenghui's point of view, he was caught off guard. He never thought that there was a Liuhe in Qingyun Academy, let alone that this old guy could be so willing to risk everything.

"Check quietly first, don't make any noise." Emperor Chenghui concluded with one sentence. I was attacked by a sneak attack yesterday, and I really feel uncomfortable. We must not mess up our position, and we must not be careless in the upcoming public opinion war.

Xia Shouzhong withdrew, and Emperor Chenghui asked Li Heng, who was waiting outside the palace, to come in.

"Lao San, I'll tell you, please remember."

Li Heng immediately took out a small notebook and charcoal pen and prepared to record.

"Those who criticize the national talent promotion ceremony established by Taizu have ulterior motives and must be investigated strictly. The people of Qingyun Academy and others cannot effectively restrain the students. In order to speed up public opinion, the imperial court decisively dealt with it. Wang Zhiwang, the chief examiner of the provincial examination, was influenced by rumors and worked for a certain Anyone who chooses a ranking with bias should be held accountable, and the others will be jointly and severally held responsible."

"Did you remember it? If you remember it, go back immediately. The special issue will be distributed to the whole city for free tomorrow morning."

"My minister has taken note of it, and has asked people to make all preparations. Type it and print it immediately when we get back." "Well, the court's announcement has been made public. How is the situation on the street?" Emperor Chenghui gave Li Heng a temporary test.

"Before coming, I gathered a group of newsboys and brought back what I heard. The general public is still waiting and watching, and some comments are just speculation. Some people who were guiding public opinion have disappeared. They should be temporarily dormant, waiting for changes."

After hearing Li Heng's reply, Emperor Chenghui nodded with satisfaction: "I've made progress, but not much. Let's go back and do things."

After Li Heng retired, Emperor Chenghui ordered Qiu Shi'an to announce the decree and convene a cabinet meeting before the emperor.

Some things cannot be hidden, so Emperor Chenghui did not intend to hide it. After asking Sun Huazhen to tell what happened last night, he said: "Of course, we must obey the will of the Supreme Emperor. This is what the cabinet means. , draw up the decree."

In this situation, even the first assistant Kong Zhao chose not to say a word, waiting for Li Qing, the Minister of Rites, to write the decree himself.

Li Qing quickly completed the draft on the spot, and when he presented it with both hands, Emperor Chenghui said: "Everyone, please take a look and correct it if there is anything wrong." Li Qing was stunned for a moment, but calmly handed over the draft. Qiu Shian.

Qiu Shi'an gave it to Kong Zhao first, and Kong Zhao bravely read it and then said: "I have no objection, veteran!"

Then Liang Daoyuan looked at it, and after a slight hesitation he still said: "I have no objection."

Sun Huazhen has no objection, Zhang Ting'en has no objection.

Finally it came into the hands of Emperor Chenghui. After taking the draft and looking at it carefully, his face showed relief.

Li Qing, despite his problems, is still reliable when doing things.

How can this be so reliable? In the draft, the word "Great Emperor" did not appear at all. It was completely wiped out.

The general meaning is that the matter must be investigated strictly. In order to quickly calm people's hearts, based on the current situation, His Majesty will first take the following measures after discussing with the cabinet. In fact, there is a lot of discussion, but I have to write it like this.

Judging from previous statements, these five cabinet members are in a very stable position. This is very good. The cabinet ministers assist the emperor in handling government affairs and understand who is the talker in the court today. How can they have the nerve to continue to stay in the cabinet?

In the afternoon, the imperial court clearly expressed its intention and announced the phased results of the disposal. Many people had guessed in advance that the outcome would be bad, and could only suffer in waiting. For example, Wang Zhiwang, who was still imprisoned in Gongyuan, fainted on the spot when the chamberlain came to announce the results of the treatment. He screamed fiercely: "Who is harming me?"

Early the next morning, newsboys were running in the streets and alleys, delivering free special editions of the "Beijing Minsheng Newspaper".

There is a sentence in the free special issue. Because of Li Heng's inspiration, he let people guide public opinion in teahouses and restaurants, and it became a hot topic in a new round of public opinion. The original text of this comment is as follows [Your Majesty did not realize that the ceremony for promoting talents established by Taizu was in any way detrimental, so he restored it. Who is expressing dissatisfaction with His Majesty's actions? I opened my eyes and looked at all the princes in the court, and I seemed to understand something. 】

The common people were not stupid, and with some people deliberately guiding and adding fuel to the flames, public opinion soon developed in the direction that it would be difficult for children from poor families to take the imperial examination, and it would be difficult for a family to support a scholar. As for the noble children, how many of them are there among the civil servants in the imperial court? I could count them clearly with my fingers, and then I realized that civil servants like Jia Zheng were not selected through the imperial examination.

While looking at the results of this Shuntian Prefecture Township Examination, a new hot topic quickly emerged: "This is too much. Is it okay to give children from poor families a way to survive?" 】

After the new hot spot had been brewing for two days, the new issue of "Jingshi Minsheng Daily" became the stage for debate, attracting countless attention. Some people defended Qingyun Academy. After all, admissions to Qingyun Academy are based on meritocracy. Who is to blame for your failure?

Someone also wrote an article and pointed out that Qingyun Academy not only recruits students by examination, but also has a recommendation system. According to reliable information, most of the students in the academy enter the academy with so-called letters of recommendation. What kind of recommendation letters are there? Any official with a Jinshi background and a rank of fourth grade or above can issue a recommendation letter.

Finally, the author [Nonsense Language] also jumped out and published an article, "From the imperial examination system in the Han Dynasty to the imperial examination system in the Sui and Tang Dynasties."

This article closely revolves around the word "fairness". It starts from the natural lack of resources of children from poor families, and finally comes to the conclusion that children from poor families are in an unfair position in the competition for imperial examinations. Qingyun Academy artificially The recommendation letter system exacerbates this unfairness. Some children from poor families who believed that studying could change their destiny, in turn contributed to this unfairness after becoming high-ranking people. The original intention of selecting scholars through the imperial examination was to achieve the greatest fairness. Although it could not be absolutely fair, it still achieved the desired fairness. I would like to ask the scholars all over the world, in the face of this man-made unfair imbalance, do we still need to argue about the rights and wrongs?

As soon as this article came out, many scholars who had only read the Four Books and Five Classics all their lives knew how the imperial examination system came about. They also knew that during the Jin Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty, there was a historical period when there were no high-ranking scholars. During that period, no one could Don't want to do it all over again. Otherwise, what are you doing studying? Just go out and show off your family status.

The direction of public opinion in the capital was quickly changed. No one talked about the rural examination fraud case. Even if someone insisted on talking about it, no one paid attention to it and couldn't afford to make waves first. People's attention was drawn to Qingyun Academy's recommendation letter system.

The reasons are also very strong. Starting from the establishment of Qingyun Academy, Taizu's original intention of establishing the academy was to take care of those nobles who fought all year round and did not read many books themselves. It was difficult for their children to receive a better education. During the reign of the Supreme Emperor, it was further opened to the entire capital area. The original intention was to take care of outstanding talents among poor children.

The original intention must be good, but the current situation is that good scriptures have been led astray by the crooked monk, which is not the original intention of the Supreme Emperor. Today, His Majesty’s sage will definitely be able to bring order to the chaos and bring justice to the original cause.

This kind of debate will certainly not be as deep as in modern society. After all, people in this era accept the knowledge system of Neo-Confucianism, and the debate itself has strong limitations. However, the fact that it can start a debate is of great significance.

The initiator, Jia Lian, lived very comfortably at home. Before becoming a Jinshi, a person who liked studying at home could not collapse.

The same goes for Jia Lian's character in front of Emperor Chenghui and Zhang Ting'en, plus factors such as being unmotivated, liking to lie down, and being lustful. Zhang Ting'en has not summoned Jia Lian recently. After all, it is a critical moment. It would be bad if someone with serious intentions catches him and publicizes it.

The imperial court soon issued a new announcement. Qingyun Academy was founded by Taizu, and the Emperor initiated the expansion of enrollment for the sake of fairness. The recommendation letter system is a hidden rule. In order to safeguard the reputation of Taizu and Emperor Taizu, from now on, Qingyun Academy will enroll students. The decision will always be based on test scores, and no recommendation system will be allowed.

As soon as this article came out, a large number of people who were preparing for the examination in Beijing wrote articles and contributed articles praising His Majesty and the imperial court.

After the gust of wind passed, the haze of the Shuntianfu Provincial Examination disappeared. No one cared about the truth.

On the day the announcement was made, Jia Lian came out of his home by horse-drawn carriage. He didn't mind others laughing at him for looking like a lady. When you go out, hide yourself and put safety first.

(End of this chapter)