Idle courtiers

Chapter 344

Hearing this, Zhou Nan was shocked.

As a time traveler, he naturally knew that Wang Xijue would be the chief assistant of the cabinet in the future in real history.This Lan Daoxing only met Wang Yuanyu a few times, and he dared to be sure that this person would be an extremely powerful minister in the future.Could it be that such a thing as face-to-face is real?
Zhou Nan was originally an absolute materialist. He disapproved of monks and Taoists and other religious people, and he also sneered at the theory of ghosts and gods.But since he has even encountered such a thing as time travel, his belief is a little shaky now.

In fact, Lord Zhou didn't know that Lan Daoxing, as an old Taoist priest, had always followed the upper-class route.The people who came into contact with him were either public officials or famous scholars in the academic circle.This kind of person is rare in itself. In the Ming Dynasty, where the class was severely consolidated, he was born to be an official.

Saying a few words "I am optimistic about you" to everyone is no loss to the Taoist priests, and everyone loves to hear good words.

After a few words of emotion, Liugen smiled again: "Wang Xijue is young and energetic after all, if he is buried by you, he might be ashamed to come to Daolu Division again, Zhou Sizheng is brilliant."

Zhou Nan was in a good mood: "It's still Daoist Master, you are a smart general."

The two clapped their hands together and laughed loudly. After drinking for a while, the drunkenness faded away.

Sure enough, as Liugen expected.In the next few days, the Taoist came to visit again, saying that he had invited Wang Xijue once more after he came down.Wang Xijue was very upset, and after asking for a long time, he found out that Wang Juren had resigned from the palace, saying that he wanted to fight for fame in the examination room, so how could he be willing to defile himself as a miscellaneous official.

For this reason, he even quarreled with the people in the palace.

When the scholars heard about this, they all praised Wang Xijue for not being afraid of power, for being unyielding, which made the palace very embarrassed.

Zhou Nan was overjoyed when he heard this. Now that the discussion has started, it seems that the court will not be able to arrange new recruits to be Zuozheng in a short time.

After all, Zuo Zheng's position in the Palace is intentional. If the Ministry of Officials arranges for other people to come over, why don't they confront the prince, Li Chunfang, Zhang Juzheng and other gentlemen? Do you still consider the political consequences?

The next step is to enjoy life and wait for the emperor's feudal superstition activities to start!

In the past few days, apart from reading and practicing stereotyped articles, Zhou Nan has been mixing with the bull noses of various Taoist temples in the capital.

In the Ming Dynasty, Taizu of Ming Dynasty integrated Taoism, and said: "Taoism is the second class, it is called Quanzhen, and it is called Zhengyi". The regional characteristics of Nanzhengyi.Shen Optimism is located in the area of ​​Zhengyi Road in the south of the Yangtze River, and most of the chief Taoists come from Longhu Mountain, Maoshan Mountain, Wudang Mountain, Jiangsu, Anhui and other places closely related to Zhengyi Road.

At the beginning of Shao Yuan Festival, Shao Shenxian came from Zhengyi, and Lan Daoxing was also a representative of this school.

With this relationship, Zhou Nan has a very good relationship with them, he is regarded as one of his own, and he manages the official affairs of the cheese company in an orderly manner.

On this day, Zhou Nan was thinking that he had a close relationship with Zhengyi, but since he took office, he had never been in contact with the Quanzhen masters, and whether he should go to Baiyun Temple for a walk.Two days later, the emperor will hold a funeral ceremony, so why not ask Quanzhen to come out with a few people?

Quanzhen and Zhengyi, we all worked together to make this feast a success.

At this time, a book office came to report: "Si Zheng, there is a scholar surnamed Shi outside asking to see him, saying that he is an old friend of yours in Anton's hometown."

Zhou Nan asked: "The fellow surnamed Shi, did he give his name?"

Secretary office: "It is said that the surname is Shi and the name is Wenjiang."

Zhou Nan scratched his head: "I really haven't heard of it, please come in." He thought for a while, he had worked as an official in Andong for more than half a year, and there seemed to be no such person among the famous scholars in the county.

If I guessed correctly, this person should have come to play Qiufeng.

Playing the autumn wind is also called playing convulsions.

When scholars in ancient times traveled around the world, if money was tight and they heard that local officials were their fellow countrymen, they would come to visit, talk about poetry and Taoism, and eat and drink.

Scholars all over the world are from the same family and fellow countrymen. As an official, it is natural to have the obligation to receive them.After the reception is over, there is still a gift to give.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, many scholars used this method to travel around the world. Not only did they not spend a penny, but they could also make a small fortune when they returned home.

Seeing the benefits of it, those down-and-out scholars followed suit, making the atmosphere of scholarly society a mess, and making those officials working in Qingshui Yamen very depressed.

Since the scholars from his hometown came to him, Zhou Nan naturally had to receive him politely.These scholars control public opinion, even if they can't help you in the future, they will make trouble for you and ruin your reputation, but it will be enough for you to drink a pot.

Shi Wenjiang was not well-known, so Zhou Nan was naturally not in the mood to sing along with him.Later, I am going to chat with him about the weather and crops in my hometown, and then give him a few taels of silver to settle the matter.

Sure enough, as he expected, Shi Wenjiang's clothes looked tattered, his face was covered with dust, and he looked very down and out.

However, he looks elegant and looks like a typical intellectual.

Shi Wenjiang was about 21 or [-] years old, and looked very arrogant. When he saw Zhou Nan, he only slightly bowed his hands: "I have seen Mr. Zhou, and I have admired him for a long time. Xiaosheng also visited you for a long time before I visited you."

This accent is not Huaixi dialect, Zhou Nan was puzzled, could it be a fake?
On the surface, he returned the salute mildly, and ordered tea to be served again.

Question: "I don't know why friends Shi came to look for this official today?"

Shi Wenjiang crossed his legs, looking like a fool.While gently scraping the foam on the surface of the tea soup with the lid, he said indifferently: "Xiaosheng traveled to the capital and spent all his money..."

Sure enough, he spent all his money to seek civil relief from my lord, and applauded.Immediately, a book office put two pre-prepared silver ingots on the table next to Shi Wenjiang, weighing about four taels.

Shi Wenjiang didn't refuse, put the money in his sleeve, and said: "That's fine, just treat it as a ten-day advance payment for work and food. Mr. Zhou, please ask someone to tidy up the signing room. It's a bit messy. This person likes to be clean and not dirty.”

Zhou Nan almost spit out his tea, wait, you didn't come to fight the autumn wind, but you want to be my master?Straight lady thief, you want me to pay four taels of silver for a ten-day period, isn't it more than ten taels a month?Your salary is higher than my lord, who gave you the courage?

I was born as a cadre master, but now someone recommends himself to work for me, I'm really not used to it!
The Daolu Department is a yamen with nothing to do, and Zhou Nan has more than 20 people under him.Among them, there are four people in the book office who can recognize hyphenated characters, and they can play the role of secretary, so there is really no need to hire a master.

Moreover, if you ask the master, I will pay for it myself.

The asking price for this surname Shi is so high, it is simply crazy.

"Friend Shi, there seems to be some misunderstanding between us..."

"Sizheng, something has happened." Just as Zhou Nan was about to politely reject Shi Wenjiang, Liu Gen rushed in: "Just now, the poor Taoist went to God optimistically to prepare for the wedding ceremony the day after tomorrow. It has been deducted. If there is no money, what can we do with the fasting ceremony? If the emperor blames it, will it be fatal?"

On a hot day, Liu Gen was still wearing bright yellow gossip clothes and a golden crown on his head, neat as a turkey.Probably because of the anxiety in my heart, sweat was all over my head, and there were two traces of water tucked in.

At this time, Shi Wenjiang next to him put down his legs and handed over a cup of tea: "What is the name of this Taoist priest, drink your saliva first and talk slowly, the sky won't fall down."

Seeing Shi Wenjiang and Zhou Nan chatting and laughing, Liu Gen thought he was Zhou Nan's personal entourage, took the cup and drank it dry, and said, "Liu Gen, a poor man, works in God Optimism, the thing is like this..."

He probably talked about his optimism that the day after tomorrow he will enter the palace to serve the emperor on an errand, and then said: "Now the higher ups don't allocate funds, it's a serious matter."

Shi Wenjiang asked again: "I don't have any money, it's just a ritual ceremony. It doesn't cost much to find a few Taoist priests to recite a few scriptures and burn some incense. Or, Si Li and Guan Li will come together , can handle it."

Liugen: "Ask me how to call it?"

"Shi Wenjiang, came from Huai'an Andong to join Zhou Zimu."

"Mr. Shi, you don't know that the royal family has its own rules, and nothing can be messed up." Liugen smiled wryly, "The emperor's sacrifice is not as simple as beheading chicken heads, burning yellow paper, and drinking blood wine. First, you have to set up an altar. , need good fragrant wood, put preserved wine, cake bait, coins, worship the emperor, Taiyi, worship the five stars, and play it for the book as in the previous chapter. Let’s take the coins as an example. The gold is finely beaten into gold leaf, and the amount used is huge. As for the green paper used for some Qingci, the workmanship is exquisite, and each piece is worth ten taels of silver."

"After the fasting ceremony, you have to donate to all the Taoist temples in the capital. There are at least a hundred Taoist temples in the capital, and donating one by one is a large sum of money. There are so many, four days, at least 6 to [-] taels."

Not only Shi Wenjiang was shocked, but even Zhou Nan exclaimed: "The waste is so great." There are 24 solar terms in this year, if there is such a festival in each solar term, it will cost a lot of money.No wonder Yan Song's hair turned white in order to make money for the emperor.

This Jiajing is really too expensive.

It's no wonder that Gong Qing went crazy to check Taicang and found that there were only a few thousand taels of silver left in it.

The national finances of the Ming Dynasty did not improve until Zhang Juzheng was in power, and he accumulated a huge fortune for the Ming Dynasty.

Shi Wenjiang murmured: "I don't know what it's like to write on the green paper used by the emperor. I wish I could see it last time. Daoist, since the emperor's expenses are so high, it's true that the two yamen can't do it by themselves." I took it. By the way, can you tell me how the person in charge of ceremonies replied?"

Liu Gen wryly smiled: "What else can I do? If you say you have no money and think about it yourself, you will dismiss the optimistic people. Who dares to talk nonsense?"

Shi Wenjiang frowned in thought, and muttered in his mouth: "That's not right, although the supervisor of ceremonies is in charge of the internal money, it is a maid who holds the keys and cannot be the master of the house. The emperor must know about this, otherwise, the eunuchs would not dare to offend the emperor. What is this...what's going on? I, Daolu, am in trouble this time, money is not everything, but without money, absolutely nothing."

(End of this chapter)