Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

The spring is cold, but Qian Qianyi's heart feels colder than the cold wind.

As the successor of Gu Xiancheng and the leader of today's literary world, Qian Qianyi really can't imagine why he suddenly fell into this situation.

Before that, his life was generally smooth. He became the leader of the literary world at a young age and was recognized by the world as a literary master of his generation.

Even after the death of Donglin leaders such as Gu Xiancheng and Gao Panlong, he, the backbone of the younger generation and the first person in the younger generation, became the leader of Donglin, "respected by the common people as the party leader."

It can be said that when he was brought back to Beijing by the emperor, he was full of ambition. I want to occupy a place in the court where the eunuch has fallen.

Unexpectedly, just after a memorial was issued regarding the political affairs of the court, the situation would be like this. He doesn't even know now whether he will be able to continue working as the Young Minister of Taichang Temple in three months.

Especially after Wen Tiren took the emperor's imperial pen and left triumphantly, Qian Qianyi felt even colder. He wondered what slander this traitor had made and how the emperor would deal with him.

Waiting for the emperor to call him into the palace, Qian Qianyi never heard the sound. This made him even more frightened and extremely pessimistic——

If the emperor keeps him but does not summon him, it means that he has completely lost his Sacred Heart. You don't have to wait three months, someone will soon impeach him.

Fortunately, Zhu Youjian still planned to use him. After thinking about it, he sent someone to summon him into the palace.

It wasn't until this moment that Qian Qianyi felt like he could take a breath. When he arrived at the palace, he kowtowed directly to apologize without waiting for the emperor to ask questions.

When Zhu Youjian saw this scene, he said with neither salt nor blandness:
"Since Qian Shaoqing pleads guilty, first tell me what crime he committed?"

Qian Qianyi didn't dare to take it seriously. Naturally, he still kept doing the same thing and asked for punishment for his oversight.

When Zhu Youjian heard this, he felt a little disappointed. I feel that Qian Qianyi still wants to fool himself until now. Asked again:

"Since you said it was an oversight, have you thought about measures to avoid oversight and reduce imperial examination fraud?"

Qian Qianyi had never thought about this. Hearing this, he hesitated for a moment.

Zhu Youjian completely lost his patience now and sighed:

"It seems Qian Shaoqing has nothing to do!"

"In this case, just go back and think about it behind closed doors!"

He planned to end the conversation and let Qian Qianyi go back.

When Qian Qianyi heard this, he was shocked. He didn't expect that he had waited for so long and said a few words to the emperor.

If he really left like this, it was unclear whether he would be able to see the emperor again, so he hurriedly said loudly:
"There is a way! There is a way!"

Asking the eunuch who asked him to leave to wait, Qian Qianyi said:

"I believe that your Majesty's new law and calculation examinations can reduce fraud."

"The more questions there are, the more difficult it is to cheat, and the impact of a single cheating method is smaller."

"If judicial arithmetic questions can be added to the rural examination, fraud will definitely be reduced."

This was a way he suddenly came up with to please the emperor.

Qian Qianyi has no idea whether the addition of judicial arithmetic questions to the provincial examination will reduce fraud. But he knew that the emperor would be very satisfied after hearing it——

These two subject examinations were added after the emperor ascended to the throne. There must be no problem in supporting the emperor's policies.

Sure enough, when Zhu Youjian heard this, he was immediately delighted. It was in his plan that the subjects of Mingfa and Mingshu would be lowered. He had always planned to imitate the civil service examination of later generations and adjust the proportion of eight-legged essays in the imperial examination. Qian Qianyi mentioned this, which made him very happy.

What made him even more happy was Qian Qianyi's answer, which showed that he was willing to please himself in order to stay in the court as an official. As long as he can control it, Qian Qianyi will become a supporter. So Zhu Youjian asked the eunuch who asked Qian Qianyi to leave to step back and said with a pleasant expression:

"Qian Qing has presided over the provincial examination, so he must have some insights into this."

“I will write more articles in the future and talk about this matter with others.”

I want to use Qian Qianyi's prestige in the literary world to promote this matter.

Qian Qianyi finally breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this. Knowing that he was still useful to the emperor, the emperor did not make up his mind to abandon him.

However, this order made him complain again. I know that if I push forward with this matter, my reputation will be damaged——

Those old scholars who spend all their time on stereotyped articles will definitely scold themselves.

But what can we do if we don’t do this? Who made him unable to think of a way to reduce fraud in the examination room?

Now that he proposes this method, he will certainly suffer the consequences.

In order to reduce losses, Qian Qianyi racked his brains and said:
"The establishment of Mingfa Department and Mingshu Department has been established in previous dynasties."

"The Book of Rites, Music, and Shooting are also among the six arts of a gentleman."

"Etiquette is the foundation of law, and law is the purpose of etiquette. I believe that in the examination of Mingfa, etiquette and law should also be tested."

"The arithmetic test in the Mingshi Department also meets the requirements for a gentleman."

These words can incorporate the knowledge of etiquette, law, and calculation into Confucianism, which can reduce Confucian students' resistance to the two subjects.

Zhu Youjian was very satisfied with this and felt that this would help achieve the purpose of imperial examination reform. So he immediately said:
"From now on, the judicial examination will be changed to etiquette and law examination."

"Etiquette and law are inherently inseparable. Qian Qing said, 'Etiquette is the foundation of law, and law is the purpose of etiquette.' This formulation is very good."

"Qian Qing wants to write an article based on this to explain the relationship between etiquette and law."

Qian Qianyi promised repeatedly, thinking that the rumors outside that the emperor liked to have people write articles were indeed not false. He, a great figure in the literary world, now has a purpose.

Zhu Youjian also discovered this use of Qian Qianyi and believed that using Qian Qianyi to write articles would be more influential than using Yu Huang and others to write articles, so he added:
"I heard that Qian Qing advocates restoration in literature. The adjustments I made to the Six Books and Nine Temples before are actually restoration."

"Unfortunately, some people don't understand and accuse me of randomly changing the official system."

"Qian Qing wants to write an article to explain the relationship between the six departments and nine temples I established and the Zhou system, the Han system, and the Tang system."

This point was not difficult for Qian Qianyi. What he was thinking more about was the emperor's intention.

Thinking that after he went to the throne, some people followed him and questioned various policies set by the emperor a year ago, such as the adjustment of the nine temples.

Qian Qianyi finally understood now why he was in such danger this time and almost couldn't stand up——

In fact, the emperor regarded him as the leader of those people, and Wen Tiren also used this to say that he had formed a clique and was an unparalleled traitor.

Now, the emperor asked him to explain the Six Parts and Nine Temples, which was actually aimed at those people. Let him turn his spear against those who follow him.

From his own heart, Qian Qianyi doesn't want to do this, because it will damage his influence. In the future, if you go to Shuxu yourself, fewer people will follow you. His reputation in the court will drop sharply because of this incident.

But if he doesn't do this, the emperor will not be able to pass this test. In order to keep his official position, Qian Qianyi said "sorry" in his heart and decided to write an article according to the emperor's wishes. (End of chapter)