Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 107: Conferred the title of Fengyilang

It’s the seventh day before the results of the Yongzhou Academy Examination are announced.

The aftermath of the uproar a few days ago regarding a student who sued the top candidate in the imperial examination is still lingering.

The Ministry of Rites has received the complaint filed by the student. In the court, the Censor-in-Chief impeached the Yongzhou examination for cheating and urged the court to depose Jia Cong, the top candidate in the new examination.

The cheating and unfairness in the imperial examinations did not constitute a civil crime, a political dispute, or even an attempt to usurp the throne.

Therefore, the Ministry of Justice had no power to judge, the Dali Temple had no power to review, and the Censorate had only the power to audit and supervise.

The authority to investigate and try cases of cheating in the imperial examinations in the Great Zhou Dynasty was the Court of Inquisition, which had been dormant for several years and is now revived.

The Court of Inquisition was founded during the reigns of Emperors Hongxuan and Jiazhao. In the eyes of officials and common people in the Great Zhou, its notorious reputation of having blood on its hands could stop children from crying at night.

Although the Magistrates' Court had become a scabby institution over the past five years, it has now been re-employed by Emperor Jiazhao and seems to be even more powerful than before.

There were even people who gloated over the misfortune and imagined that the academy's lackeys would rush into the Rongguo Mansion and take away the Jia family member who had won the first place in the case like a lowly prisoner.

For these curious people, this was an exciting scene that could be a topic of conversation for years to come.

But this never happened.

However, the henchmen of the Magistrates' Court were indeed dispatched, but they were not sent to Rongguo Mansion to capture Jia Cong.

Instead, he went to a small inn four or five blocks away from Rongguo Mansion.

A captain from the magistrate's court, accompanied by several strong men, dragged a tall and thin scholar out of the inn like a mangy dog.

It alarmed many neighbors.

The scholar saw that many people were gathered around him, so he shouted righteously: "I am a scholar. The court treats scholars and officials with courtesy. Scholars should not be punished. What you are doing is disrespectful to the law and disrespecting civility."

The leading lieutenant ripped off the scholar's scarf with a grim smile and said, "You are no longer a scholar if you do this."

"You are lawless. Only a provincial academician has the power to depose a scholar. I will report you to the Ministry of Rites and the Inspectorate."

The judge was furious and slapped the scholar to the ground, saying, "You are such a fool! The Ministry of Rites and the Censorate are both eager for you to die. Take you away!"

……

The palace of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Fengtian Hall.

Emperor Jiazhao sat on the high throne, looking down at all the civil and military officials in the hall, with a sense of fear in his heart.

"A few days ago, students who were taking the imperial examination gathered at the Ministry of Rites and reported that Jia Cong, the top candidate in the imperial examination, was the son of an imperial court lady and had no qualifications for the imperial examination. According to the imperial examination system of the Ming Dynasty, he should be dismissed.

This matter has caused a lot of discussion in the court and the country. I have asked the Ministry of Rites to investigate Jia Cong's background, and ordered Zhou Junxing of the Court of Inquiries to investigate the students and report the whole matter to the Ministry of Rites. Now everything is ready.

Because the students' reports involve the imperial examination and talent selection ceremony, they have attracted the attention of scholars all over the world and should not be taken lightly.

I, together with Yongzhou Xuezheng and Ministry of Rites Left Vice Minister Guo Youchang, have drafted an imperial edict based on the results of the investigation by the Court of Inquisition to set the record straight.

"Lord Guo, please announce the decree!"

Guo Youchang's face was serious. He unfolded the yellow satin imperial edict in his hand and read:
By the providence of Heaven.

The seventh day of the eighth month in the twelfth year of Jiazhao.

Liu Wenxuan, a student from Deqing Prefecture, brought 31 students who were taking the Yongzhou Imperial Examination and reported that Jia Cong, the top candidate in the examination, did not have the qualifications to take the imperial examination. They wrote a letter to the emperor to remove him from the title.

The Ministry of Rites, in response to the imperial edict, verified Jia Cong's background. He was born in March of the first year of Jiazhao. His mother was Du Jinniang, a consort, and his father was Jia She, a first-class general in Rongguo Mansion.

He has been raising the Jia family for thirteen years since he was born. His name is recorded in the genealogy of the Jia family in Rong State and is enshrined in the Jia clan temple. The ancestors and gods have witnessed that his descendants of the Jia clan are safe. After investigation by the Court of Inquiry, Liu Wenxuan, a student in Deqing Prefecture, was instigated by others to be jealous of talented people, selfish and harmful. He colluded with scholars and gathered in government offices to make false accusations and destroy people's reputations.

His morals were corrupt, which went against the teachings of the sages and brought disgrace upon the reputation of the literati. Guo Youchang, the schoolmaster of Yongzhou, submitted a memorial to the emperor, and Liu Wenxuan's title of scholar was revoked and he would never be employed again.

The rest of the scholars were told to return to their hometowns to see the results.

In addition, Chen Minyan, the Supervisory Censor of the Censorate, did not know the whole story, did not ask for the root cause, and reported based on hearsay. He was disrespectful and negligent in his duties. In the court, he insulted people's elders and ruined people's reputation. He brought shame to the Censor's good reputation.

He was dismissed from his post as Censor-in-Chief and demoted to the position of Procurator of Dezhou Prefecture to see the results.

I am grateful that our dynasty governs the world with filial piety. Filial piety does not distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate children, or between high and low status, and only expresses the love for one's parents.

Jia Cong, who ranked first in the Yongzhou Academy examination, was a man of outstanding talent and learning at a young age. He was skilled in calligraphy, and was not bothered by the low status of his mother or the separation between her and his mother due to her life and death. He was honest and kind-hearted, and was extremely filial to his mother, which won my heart.

Jia Cong is specially appointed as an eighth-rank Fengyilang, and is ordered by the Emperor to go to the Da Ci'en Temple in Nanjing to copy scriptures and pray for Empress Dowager Xianxiao. All matters shall be handled by the Ministry of Rites and priests in accordance with the rules. This is the imperial decree!

After reading the imperial edict, Guo Youchang bowed deeply to Emperor Jiazhao, and then returned to his seat in the Ministry of Rites with an expressionless face.

He ignored it completely. After he announced the decree, all the civil and military officials in the hall were in an uproar.

This imperial edict is truly powerful!
The nobles such as the first-class Bo Niu Jizong and the first-class Zi Liu Fang just felt that Jia Cong was really lucky. He was first falsely accused of being the son of an otaku and wanted to be stripped of his honor.

But in the end, there was a sudden turn of events, and he turned a disaster into a blessing. Despite his status as a scholar, he was promoted to the eighth-rank Fengyilang by the emperor.

You must know that only after passing the autumn examination and becoming a juren are you eligible to be granted an official position by the court.

Jia Cong was granted an eighth-rank official position despite being a scholar, which was extremely rare in the more than seventy years since the establishment of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

But what the civil servants in the court saw was not as superficial as what the nobles like Niu Jizon saw.

They don't care whether the top candidate in the college examination is deposed.

Nor would they care whether a scholar who flaunts his stupidity was stripped of his title.

He even didn't care much about the demotion of Censor Chen Minyan.

Those censors in the Censorate were always reporting on things they heard and talking nonsense. It was inevitable that they would get their feet wet if they walked too many times at night. It was common for them to be told to get out by the emperor.

Besides, no official would have a good impression of the censors, let alone care about their life or death.

For these civil servants with complicated thoughts, the most awakening sentence in the entire imperial edict was: Filial piety, regardless of whether one is a legitimate or illegitimate child, or a noble or humble person, only expresses the love for one's parents.

This sentence is where the Holy Heart lies, and this sentence is the true intention of this imperial edict!

Other things, such as dismissing a scholar, removing a censor, or even conferring an eighth-rank official title on a scholar, were all excuses thrown out by the emperor.

The emperor took advantage of Jia Cong's false accusation to turn the tables. He rewarded Jia Cong with such favor because of his filial piety towards his mother of humble origin.

This is using other people's affairs to vent one's own grievances, this is mocking the so-called strict adherence to etiquette by civil servants, which is nothing more than foolish and false filial piety of not knowing the kindness of parents and distinguishing between legitimate and illegitimate children, and the noble and humble!
The emperor, because of Jia Cong's skill in calligraphy, granted him the title of eighth-rank official by imperial decree and sent him to the Da Ci'en Temple in Nanjing to copy scriptures and pray for Empress Dowager Xianxiao. He also let the Ministry of Rites be responsible for the relevant ceremonies.

This matter is exaggerated to be so grand and glorious.

To trace back to the source, the favor shown to Jia Cong was false, while the promotion of Empress Dowager Xianxiao was real. The emperor wanted to build a temple and erect a monument to pray for his biological mother, which was a fait accompli!
A scholar who copied scriptures for the Empress Dowager was the top student in a state and an eighth-rank official. How honorable was this to support the Empress Dowager Xianxiao.

The civil servants in the court, who had always taken it as their responsibility to strictly abide by the ancestral system and rites, began to get restless, with high morale rising in their hearts, and they hesitated about how to make remonstrations in court.

However, those civil servants who wanted to give advice just looked at each other, and no one took the lead.

Because they all began to realize that the situation in the court today is completely different from the past, and it can even be said to be a hidden crisis!

(End of this chapter)