Good son-in-law of the Ming Dynasty

The setting sun dyed the sky red, and the Marquis of Shouning was crowded with horses and horses on this day, and it was very lively.

Hou's Mansion is located in the west of the capital, close to Zhonghai.

Because of the Beihai, Zhonghai, and South China Seas in this area, the scenery is beautiful, and it is also the location of the Royal Garden Xiyuan.Therefore, this is also the gathering place for the family of the princes and ministers in the capital.

In the layout of the capital, the center is naturally the location of the imperial palace and central government agencies, which is the central place.

The people in the city live in different areas according to their grades. For example, the south of the city is a commercial area, where merchants live; the residents in the north of the city are mostly craftsmen and soldiers;

Therefore, there is a joke in the capital that goes like this: Soldiers and artisans live in the north gate, dignitaries live in the west gate, rich people live in the south gate, and ruffians live in the east gate.

Shouning Mansion occupies quite a lot of land, and the terrain is also high. Standing on the tower in the mansion, one can see the sparkling waves of the South China Sea as far as the eye can see.When the weather is good, you can actually see the eunuchs and palace maids in Xiyuan.

Neighboring to the royal family, the Hou Mansion has magnificent carved beams and painted buildings, naturally carrying a touch of nobility.

In fact, the Zhang family is now ranked first among the nobles in the capital.

Speaking of the fact that the Zhang family was just a middle-to-upper rich family in the past, it is nothing special.

Zhang Hou's father was a fourth-rank magistrate in his early years, but later died in his official career.And Zhang Heling is also a playboy and doesn't like to study. He has no fame and no way to be an official. No matter how you look at it, this family has declined.

There was a strict rule in the official circles of the Ming Dynasty that non-jinshi were not allowed to be officials, and non-Hanlin were not allowed to be ministers.

Even Cong Qipin County Chancellor, who is not in the establishment of non-imperial officials, still has to have a reputation.

Therefore, if you want to enter the officialdom, the only way to go is the imperial examination.

Otherwise, even if it is the son of your chief assistant, he is still a commoner without fame.

In this way, the upward channel will not be blocked to the greatest extent, and the ruling class will be able to continuously absorb fresh blood.

Therefore, no matter how you look at it, if Zhang Hou failed to study, even if his father had been an official during his lifetime, the Zhang family would be removed from the gentry class.

But today's Zhang Heling is not only named Shouning Hou, but also transformed into the leader of the nobles in the capital. The reason is that Zhang's family gave birth to an excellent woman ----- Empress Zhang, the queen of the current Emperor Hongzhi. ,

Thanks to the good family education of the Zhang family, Empress Zhang is intelligent and generous, and Liugong respects her.

Especially after she gave birth to the current prince Zhu Houzhao, her position became more stable.

Today's emperor Hongzhi is getting worse day by day, and there are even rumors that his life span is only three to five years old.When the emperor ascends the throne and the new emperor ascends the throne, Zhang Hou will be the real uncle of the country.

The Zhang family is the largest family in the country.

Today's Shouning Hou Mansion has come to a scene where flowers are blooming and oil is being boiled over fire.

Even though Zhang Hou was really unbearable, and even framed the famous Li Mengyang and imprisoned him for personal grievances, countless upright gentlemen sighed with deep resentment.

But there are tens of millions of scholars in the capital, so it is natural that there are no literati to help out and opportunistic.As for the bureaucratic group, there are also many mid-level and lower-level officials who are depressed and unwilling to make friends and want to hug this thick thigh.

Now Lord Zhang Hou is proud of his spring breeze, he just thinks that in this world, he is the eldest child, the second child, and the emperor's third child, Zhang Heling is also the fourth child, and the rest are all ignored by him.

However, even though this person is a jerk, he is extremely filial and obeys his mother's words.

This time Zhang's mother recovered from illness, Zhang Heling set up a feast to celebrate, and those who wanted to cling to him in the capital prepared generous gifts to please Zhang's mother.

As long as you please Zhang's mother, you are pleasing Zhanghou, and you are pleasing Queen Zhang and the prince.

Therefore, banquets were set up in all the courtyards of the Hou Mansion at this time, and there was a lot of people and it was very lively.

Different from the orderly and solemn mansions of other dukes' mansions in the capital, the Zhang family is not a famous family at all, they don't pay so much attention, and they don't have the so-called aristocratic background.

There were people urging people to drink, even Zhang's family joined in, yelling loudly: "Eat wine, eat wine, if you think highly of our Hou Fu, then drink this!"

"The palace inspector, cheers!"

"Everyone, please be happy, our Lord Hou likes to be lively the most!"

The atmosphere seemed extremely warm.

Su Mu looked amused, this Zhang Heling is really uneducated, the situation in front of him is really a bit like a banquet for the upstarts of later generations.Looking at the banquet, there are no big figures, most of them are scholars and officials from the seventh rank.

The name of "Wanhualou" was written on Su Mu's invitation, and the Zhang family didn't check it much.In fact, what the Zhang family wanted was a lively scene, and the more people who came, the better.

All the well-known Qing people from various buildings in the capital came. These performance groups are highly professional, so they naturally have to bring followers such as musicians, costumes, props, etc. Su Mu came in with this identity.

It is natural to walk to the innermost one and enter the astonishingly large yard.

It can be seen that this place was originally a large garden. Later, the flowers, plants and trees in the yard were pulled out, and it was flattened into a large flat ground, covered with smooth bluestone slabs.To the north is a big stage with a height of one person.In addition to this high platform, there is another one to the west, but it is much smaller, only half the height of a person.

The two rows of houses behind the two stages are the resting places for the people in each building. It is estimated that they have all arrived, and the sound of silk and bamboo can be faintly heard inside.

There are more than a dozen tables set up in the open space in front of the stage, and many people are already seated.

Judging by the clothes of these people, most of them have official positions.Even in casual clothes, she is graceful and graceful, obviously of extraordinary status.

There are quite a few female relatives in the room, but they all use thin gauze tents to form a small room.There are still many butterflies, bees and flowers resting on the gauze tent. When the breeze blows, those little insects seem to come alive.

It seems that those who entered the courtyard were the most distinguished guests in the banquet of the Hou Mansion, but not ordinary people could enter.

Su Mu was about to find a servant to ask which room the people from "Wanhualou" were in, when he heard someone from the banquet surrounded by gauze curtains laughing and saying: "Ming Qing, you served as a guest for "Luoyi Pavilion" a few days ago. I have already heard the lyrics and music written by my mother. They are really beautiful and timeless. I can’t compose them myself. Now your song "Picking Mulberries" has become famous in Beijing, just like the Jiangnan in the past. Sing Dragon Ci. However, I have only heard this song in other places, but I don’t know what it is like to be sung by Yan Niang today. I am very much looking forward to it, my lords. Shang Yanniang's original song should be a big one. Come, come, fill up this cup, and respect Long Mingqing!"

As soon as these words came out, everyone over there laughed in unison: "Okay, Mr. Li is right. I have heard about Long Mingqing's name for a long time. When we met today, he is indeed a romantic person. Come, come, let's respect Mingqing."

Hearing Long Zai's name was mentioned, Su Mu paid attention, walked a few steps forward, came to the banquet, and looked over through the veil.

I saw a lot of people sitting at the table, the leader was a middle-aged man in a red official sixth-rank official robe, and this person should be the one everyone called Mr. Li.

As for the others, they also have official positions, and their official uniforms may be blue, green, or red.

The only one who was white was Long Zai. However, the pride on this guy's face made him stand out, or it was intentional.It seems that if he doesn't do this, he won't be able to show that he is the literary master of the younger generation.

Long Zai raised his cup to drink with the crowd, then turned his head to Master Li and said indifferently: "Master Li is absurd, but you are a latecomer in the literary world, how can you compare to Mr. Ruoxu's excellent poetry and books. Today's dusk and autumn night, There are already faint stars. But it reminds the boy of Mr. Ruoxu's poems, especially the line "The moon is pity, the round fan, the west wind is timid. I hang down the mica tent, and I can't bear to see the Milky Way." It is very suitable for the occasion. In the view of Yilong , Mr. Ruoxu's poems should not be inferior to the seven masters. Moreover, Mr.'s calligraphy is steep and unique, so it is not an exaggeration to call it the best in the world."

Long Zai called him "Mr. Ruoxu" instead of his official name, obviously putting himself on the same level as him.

If it were someone else, he would have been annoyed.

But when he mentioned Master Li's poems, he just scratched the itch.

Master Li is also proud, he laughed: "I can't afford it, I can't afford it."

Hearing this poem, I also heard the dragon calling the man by his name, and talking about Mr. Li's calligraphy.Su Mu's heart skipped a beat, and he suddenly thought of someone: it turned out to be him, it was all a coincidence.This person was also a well-known historical figure during the Hongzhi and Zhengde years, and he had a certain status in the calligraphy world of the Ming Dynasty.Although his current official position is not high, he is also a master craftsman among scholars.

This person is Li Shishi, whose name is Ruoxu, from Nanchang, a Jinshi in the second year of Chenghua, and now he is the Chancellor of Taichang Temple.

Later, he went to Jiangxi to serve as a magistrate, that is, at that time, he colluded with King Ning and advised King Ning.

Later, he was transferred back to the central government and served as the imperial envoy of the right capital of the Supervisory Yuan.

When Huanhao was in turmoil, King Ning rebelled against him, and he acted as an internal response.

After Emperor Zhengde quelled the rebellion, Li Shishi was executed.

Looking at the situation in front of him, this Master Li has not colluded with King Ning yet.Moreover, although King Ning was rebellious during this period, he had just inherited the throne for only two years, his strength was weak, and his rebellion had not been revealed. Although he had ambitions, he had not put them into reality.

Speaking of Li Shishi, he was considered a first-class figure in the cultural circles during the Hongzhi and Zhengde years of the Ming Dynasty.

His poems are nothing more than quasi-first-rate, and in the eyes of a modern person like Su Mu, they are mediocre.However, his calligraphy is very good, thin, dangerous, ugly and weird, opening up a new trend for a generation.

Su Muben is a calligraphy lover and has seen photocopies of his original works before.To be honest, it's really good. The frame structure is flat and large, and it's unique and unique. It's a bit like Pang Zhonghua's calligraphy with hard pens.

It is estimated that Pang Zhonghua was also influenced by him when he created hard pen calligraphy.

Today's poetry is quasi-first-rate, and the calligraphers came to this banquet, I'm afraid it's not just because of the excitement.

The most likely reason is to judge the singing and dancing performance among the Qingguan people in the capital, which belongs to the role of special guest of later generations.

Taichang Temple is in charge of rites and music, but this is his profession.

It was a coincidence that I was able to meet a cultural celebrity here today.