Good son-in-law of the Ming Dynasty

The time has come to the end of August in the lunar calendar, which is the hottest time of the year.

For Su Mu, the ceremony of lighting up Marquard Street was undoubtedly a torture.

In fact, he only entered Xi'an City yesterday, and the reason why he didn't enter the city earlier was because he was a little annoyed by the official entertainment.I am going to wait until the exam time is up before entering the Tribute Academy.

But the procedure of Liang Ma Kua Street was indispensable. Early in the morning, he was woken up by Zhao Hulu.As soon as I finished breakfast, I was already sweating.

After eating, he didn't take a breather, surrounded by several long followers, sat in a small shoulder car carried by two people, avoided the busy streets, and quietly came to the Shaanxi governor's yamen.

In the Tang Dynasty, the city of Xi'an was said to have eight waters surrounding Chang'an. The environment is very good and cool.However, with the development of the Guanzhong Plain for thousands of years, the trees on the entire plain have been cut down.

In the city of Xi'an, there is no trace of green, but in August, it is also a city of fire.

In the ceremony room, Su Mu changed into Geshaji clothes, a straw hat, and a shoulder waistcoat. After he was dressed properly, he saw Mr. Shi, the deputy chief examiner of the current Shaanxi Provincial Examination.

According to the national imperial examination system, the chief and deputy examiners of the provincial and township examinations must be selected from the central government.

Mr. Shi was born as a Jinshi in the second list in the third year of Hongzhi. After sitting in the Imperial Academy for a year, he was eliminated and served as a few officials in the local area.

Su Mu and he were old acquaintances before, and this time they are co-chairing the Shaanxi Provincial Examination, and they are very happy.

Lao Shi is almost seventy years old, and he came all the way from the capital to Xi'an, and his energy seems very weak.He also knew that Su Mu's status in the scholar forest was at its peak, and he was also a close minister of the emperor, so his future was limitless.Moreover, according to the rules in the officialdom, the chief official and the deputy are subordinates.So he made up his mind that Su Mu will be in charge of all matters in this rural examination, and he should treat it as a decoration.

After sitting in the big living room for a while, the two of them were sweating profusely. The leaders in the front and back rows were vigorously shaking the big fans, but the fans were blowing out hot air.While he was restless, the governor also came in wearing a new auspicious uniform, his back was already numb.

Panting for breath, the governor knelt down and kowtowed: "The governor of Shaanxi pays his respects to the two imperial envoys."

The governor is a great official in Xinjiang, and Su Mu is just a seventh-rank Hanlin editor.But he is an imperial envoy, representing the majesty of the emperor, and officials of all sizes in Shaanxi Province must kneel when they see him.

Su Mu hurriedly helped the governor up, let him sit down at the top, and then saluted him as a lower official.

The governor's face was covered with sweat, and he said: "It's a hot day, let's hold the ceremony quickly, get on the horse and walk through the streets, so that we can go to the Gongyuan to enjoy the coolness. The entire Xi'an city is cooler at the Gongyuan."

Su Mu said, "But it's up to the governor to decide."

Therefore, everyone held a ceremony of worshiping and bestowing amulets, and then set up an incense table in the southwest direction to invite the sage Confucius.

After the whole ceremony was completed, looking at the three of them, they all seemed to be fished out of the water.

Then, Su Mu rode out of the Yamen on a horse, and under the leadership of the guard of honor, he took a tour around the main streets of Xi'an City.

All of a sudden, the people of the entire city of Xi'an rushed to the streets, vying to see the demeanor of the great imperial envoy.

This situation was originally very beautiful. At the beginning, Su Mu looked around with great interest to see the difference.But the city of Xi'an is too big. Turning around a few main streets and being exposed to the poisonous sun, the whole person is wilted. I feel that there is no sweat to come out, and my mouth is bitter and sticky like glue.

After finally waiting for the end of Liang Ma Kua Street, the team entered the Gongyuan, drank two cups of tea happily, and felt much more comfortable when the sweat came out.

Looking back at Mr. Shi, the official uniform on his body has already been covered with a layer of white salt flowers.It turned out that Mr. Shi had a heavy taste and a salty diet on weekdays, and his body had more salt than ordinary people.

After the two of them ate tea, the long follower rushed up to remove the crowns and clothes of the two great masters.After taking off only a single shirt and using a wet towel, Master Shi sighed: "It's really a sin, everything in the world is like this, the beauty of the front, the suffering of the queen."

Su Mu said with a smile: "Master Shi, anyway, two days will pass and the tribute courtyard will be closed. The environment here is good, so it's better to cool off here."

Well, I didn't say anything, there are trees and water here, which is much better than the post house.

Master Shi smiled wryly: "There are still some troubles these two days."

"What's wrong?" Su Mu asked.

Mr. Shi: "According to the rules, all the Zhengyin officials in the provinces and counties where they are located during the provincial examination, who are elected as inner and outer curtain officials, will come to visit us with Tongzheng. It is inevitable to have a few drinks, although this is the imperial court. His grace, but such a hot day makes people sad."

It turned out that the outer curtain officials in the township examination had to be selected from the officials of the province where they were located, and the governor automatically became the supervisor of the examination.

"Grace?" Su Mu was a little confused.

Master Shi smiled: "By then, Chief Examiner Su will understand."

In the evening, Su Mu finally understood what Lord Shi meant by these words.

As soon as it got dark, it hadn't waited for the cool down.Under the leadership of Shaanxi Xuezheng, the prefects and county magistrates who were selected as inner and outer curtain officials came to meet the great master.

Naturally, all delicacies are entertained.

There are also many apprenticeship ceremonies. According to the rules, the apprenticeship silver in a mansion is 400 taels.

Shaanxi was originally the largest province in the Ming Dynasty, with so many prefectures and counties. Together, the two great masters each received more than 5000 taels of silver.

Mr. Shi is the Guozijian Jijiu, and he is used to being poor. Seeing so much cash, his gray eyebrows huddled into a ball of laughter.

This was the beginning, and next, the local gentry came to meet the chief examiner.

After the exam, the Chinese-style newcomer sent over silver coins to thank the teacher.

After a trip to the township examination, the two great masters have no problem with one or twenty thousand taels of silver.

Master Shi told Su Mu that night that he had been in office for so many years, and his qualifications and grades were enough, but he had never let him go outside, and his life was miserable.Unexpectedly, when he was about to retire, he would be given such an errand.In this way, the evening scene is much better, what a great grace of the emperor!

After all, Su Mu is the chief examiner, and Mr. Shi still depends on his opinion on whether to take the money.

Su Mu is not such a hypocritical person, he naturally took the money he deserved without any hesitation.Although refusing to accept the teacher apprentice ceremony can gain a great reputation for yourself, but you also have to consider Master Shi's feelings.

Seeing Su Mu's attitude, Master Shi breathed a sigh of relief, and became more and more affectionate to him.

Master Shi is afraid of young and energetic officials like Su Mu, who have a great future and will do anything for the sake of fame and popularity.It's me, this is my last chance to make a fortune!

It was a coincidence that among this group of officials, Su Mu met an acquaintance.

It was during the Baoding government test that he took his own He Jingming.

After He Jingming presided over the Baoding Academy Examination, he was transferred to Shaanxi by the imperial court as an assistant student administrator, and now he has been transferred to a full-time job.

After Su Mu visited Shaanxi to study politics, he also had several contacts with him.

He Jingming was originally a senior in the poetry circle, and he also loved Su Mu's poems to the extreme.In addition, the two are teachers and students, and they are very happy to cooperate in official affairs.

However, since the last time we met in Xi'an, Su Mu hadn't seen him for three months.

Seeing him, Su Mu hurriedly stood up and bowed to the ground: "The student has met his teacher."

Seeing the majestic No. [-] Scholar, the grand master of the imperial envoy called He Xuezheng as his mentor, and the officials who didn't understand the relationship between the two were all in a commotion.

He Jingming hurriedly saw Su Mu helped him up, and said with a smile: "Speaking of which, Su Zhuan and I really have such a teacher-student relationship! I think back then, when I was in the examination room of the college, I almost brushed Su Zhuan off." If that's the case, I'm afraid Su will have to wait another two years for the No. [-] ranking."

"Quickly talk and listen to Xuetai." Everyone cheered up and urged repeatedly.

The governor of Shaanxi chuckled: "Everyone, please take a seat. I have something to say later."

After drinking for three rounds, He Jingming explained clearly to everyone what happened to him in the examination in Baoding Court.

One of his students later won the first prize in the examination and was awarded the Imperial Academy.Now that he is famous again, he is very likely to join the cabinet in the future, He Jingming is also very proud.

Everyone felt a burst of emotion, saying that there are such twists and turns in this, and He Xuetai and Su Zhuanzhuan should have a teacher-student relationship.

He Jingming is a senior in the poetry circle, and also a senior scholar from the Imperial Academy.When he traveled around the world in his early years, he had already met many first-class scholars.

Coupled with his modesty and integrity, he has been on par with Shaanxi officials in the past few years since he was an official.

He is also a political official. It can be said that all the scholars in Shaanxi are his students, and he has a very wide network of contacts.

Hearing that he is Su Mu's teacher, all the inner and outer curtain officials have already regarded Su Zhuangyuan as their own.In fact, if we talk about the relationship between students and the same year, it can be counted.

Everyone thought to themselves, since they are their own people, things will be easy to talk about.At that time, in the provincial examination room, we will just follow the chief examiner Su's instructions.

The feast of wine was enjoyable, and Su Mu also felt the kindness of Shaanxi officials towards him, knowing that there would be no problem in hosting this round of rural examinations.

I also feel emotional in my heart, it seems that in the officialdom, this face and relationship are really important.

China, especially ancient China, to put it bluntly, is nothing but a society of human feelings!

After the banquet, He Jingming did not leave in a hurry, instead he and Su Mu took a walk in the tribute courtyard.

He Jingming said: "Zi Qiao, you and I will enter the examination room in the next day. In these two days, there will probably be a lot of banquets. You can handle it yourself."

"Sure, grasp what?" Su Mu was taken aback.

He Jingming smiled: "After all, the rural examination is related to the cultural context of a province, and it is quite different from the hospital examination. There are many favors, but it is not easy to shirk. The degree of it, you have to think about it. Tomorrow, the governor will bring the local gentry and the head The character came to invite me."

Su Mu vaguely figured out something, and said with a smile: "Some things are actually easy to grasp, as long as you follow the laws of the country and your conscience, you will not do wrong things."

He Jingming said with relief: "Zi Qiao, if you think so, I won't worry anymore."