Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

It takes up to a month from the release of results in the provincial examination to the performance in the palace examination.

The failed scholars had already left the capital.

Now only Zhu Ming, Bai Chongyan and Min Zishun are left, and among the new friends, Qin Hui, Lin Xun, Hou Xuan, Chen Dong and others are closer.

Ju Ming has always maintained a normal attitude towards Qin Hui, neither deliberately alienating nor being very close to him.

Under Chen Dong's organization, there were dozens of Tai students who often went outside the city to listen to Chen Yuan's lectures. There are many future celebrities in it, such as Zhu Xi's father, Zhu Song, who was less than twenty years old at this time and had just entered Taixue this year.

A few days before the roll call, the tributes first went to worship Confucius, and then were called by the Ministry of Rites to learn etiquette.

Regarding kneeling to worship the emperor, one has to distinguish between circumstances and only kneel on large formal occasions or special occasions.

As early as the third year of Chunhua, kneeling down to worship the emperor indiscriminately was listed as one of the fifteen regular disrespectful behaviors (daily visits and regular court meetings). Violators would have one month's salary deducted.

"bye!"

Officials from the Ministry of Etiquette stood beside the tributes and were guiding everyone to practice etiquette.

Ju Ming held a blank board in his hand and stood among the crowd to practice paddling.

First he held the board upright and bowed, then he held the board horizontally and bowed, then he took half a step back and inserted the board into his belt. Then start dancing...

The dance movements of the Song Dynasty were much simpler than those of the Tang Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, people especially had to spin in circles. Just step out with one foot, touch the ground with one heel, then switch the left and right feet and repeat, and follow the gestures with your hands.

After the dance is over, bow down three times.

You can't shout "Long live" randomly, what you shout is "Hail, Holy Gong".

After training for three consecutive days, he finally entered the palace again.

According to the ranking in the provincial examination, Ju Ming still stood at the back, waiting in the dark for the emperor's ascension to the palace.

"You successfully arrived in Tokyo, why don't you come to see me?" An official wearing purple court uniform came over.

Zhu Ming didn't recognize him at all, so he bowed and said, "I don't know my husband's name yet."

"My surname is Qian, and my name is Qian Jingzhen." The official smiled.

Zhu Ming quickly bowed again: "This junior has met Duke Kang Guo!"

Lu Tixue once wrote to Ju Ming, saying that he had sent eight poems to Tokyo, and that Prince Consort and Kang Guogong Qian Jingzhen had helped publicize them.

Qian Jingzhen didn't know that Ju Ming had come to Tokyo at first, but later he heard that someone was having trouble with Kaifeng Prefecture Yin, so he sent his servants to find out the news. Then he stood still and waited to see Ju Ming's imperial examination results.

He is no longer in a hurry to marry his daughter, because the last legitimate daughter got married last fall, and now there are only two underage concubines left.

Qian Jingzhen exchanged a few words with Zhu Ming and suddenly whispered: "Successful will be at the forefront of today's roll call."

"Thank you, Lord, for reminding me." Zhu Ming understood.

Another person came over, but it was Lu You's father Lu Zai, Lu Tixue's clan brother. He had just been promoted to Huaixi as Changping envoy, and was promoted to a provincial official, but he had not had time to take up the post.

It can be seen from Lu Zai's new official position that Song Huizong was deliberately promoting Cai Jing's opposition and adding sand to Cai Jing's inherent territory (the official school system and the Changping system have always been firmly controlled by Cai's party).

After learning Lu Zai's identity, Zhu Ming quickly accepted the gift of his son-nephew. This was because of Lu Tixue's relationship.

Gradually, several more officials came over, all of them opponents of Cai Jing.

Looking at this posture, Ju Ming knew that his ranking in the imperial examination was very high, and the anti-Cai officials wanted to recruit him.

The sky gradually became brighter, and suddenly I heard the sound of whips.

The officials went to the front to line up. In the sound of ritual music, the gatekeeper reported that the officials had arrived.

The Xuanhui envoy shouted in the palace: "Tong!"

Ju Ming stood outside, watching the officials enter the palace, and then kept waiting.

After the tedious etiquette, the eunuch from the Royal Medicine Academy came out and sang in a rhythmic tone: "The first person in the Jinke Palace Examination, Meizhou He Su!"

When He Su heard this, he trembled all over and quickly got out of the queue.

There was no etiquette for being the best, and he went directly to Jiying Hall to express his gratitude.

The eunuch sang again: "The second person in the imperial examination today is Wuzhou Pan Lianggui!"

After Pan Lianggui entered for a while, the eunuch sang again: "The third person in the current imperial examination is Ju Ming of Yangzhou!"

The scholars who were close to Ju Ming were all surprised and happy, but they did not dare to move casually for fear of being reported for misconduct in front of the palace.

When Ju Ming came to Danbi's place and stopped, the gatekeeper shouted: "The tribute scholar Ju Ming has arrived!"

The Xuanhui envoy shouted in the palace: "Tong!"

The doorkeeper then shouted: "Tong!"

Using the etiquette he had just learned two days ago, Ju Ming walked up to the palace. First he stood and bowed twice, then stepped back to dance and knelt down without any psychological burden: "Happy Holy Gong!"

Then he kowtowed three times, thanked him and stood up.

Song Huizong suddenly said: "Come closer!"

Ju Ming stepped forward.

Song Huizong looked at it carefully and asked, "Why did you resign?"

Ju Ming replied: "The poet in Dasheng Mansion is a sycophant. I am a disciple of the Holy Spirit and should take the imperial examination."

He was so courageous that all the officials looked at him sideways. Even Cai Jingdu glanced at Ju Ming twice.

The officials of Dasheng Mansion all looked ugly. The narrow-minded people have already decided to take revenge and will look for opportunities to give Ju Ming eye drops in the future.

Song Huizong was not angry. He had seen many officials with such "upright character". I originally wanted to ask about Taoism, but today’s occasion was not right, so I said, “Go down.”

The Xuanhui envoy shouted: "Ju Ming, the third person in this department, will be awarded the rank of Jinshi. I will be given robes, boots, and wats!"

Ju Ming held the boots and robe in his hands to thank him, and was led into the side hall to change clothes.

The number one scholar, He Su, had already changed and bowed, "Congratulations, Brother Zhu!"

"Same joy, same joy." Ju Ming returned the greeting.

Pan Lianggui said happily: "Brother Chenggong, I listened to Mr. Chen's lectures by the Cai River, and even had a fight with the Kaifeng governor."

Ju Ming instantly felt close to him and said, "Thank you, Brother Pan, for your help."

Not long after, the fourth person also came, Guo Xiaoyou from Jiangxi.

This man's head is extremely large, his nose is a nose, and his eyes are eyes. There are no defects in his facial features, but together they look particularly weird.

It's not ugly, just weird, and people will remember his appearance at a glance.

As one of the rare imperial examinations in the Huizong Dynasty that had no shady secrets, these three people were all relatively upright people. Historically, they were all demoted from the capital for impeachment of traitorous parties.

Ju Ming got dressed, and the fifth player, Song Di, also came in, also a historical celebrity.

When Song Di was the county magistrate, because he was an honest official and punished subordinate officials, the people of Ningde County directly built a shrine for him. He was transferred to Yugan County magistrate, and led the village to fight off the thieves. After that, he served as county magistrate for several times. Everywhere he went, he either rectified the administration of officials or led troops to suppress bandits.

Later, the Jin soldiers moved south and Zhao Gou fled to Jiankang. The troops of Han Shizhong and Zhang Jun relied entirely on Song Di to raise and arrange food and wages.

After Song Di's death, he was granted the title of Grand Master.

The sixth Zhu Xi also came in. When the Jin soldiers attacked Hangzhou, he was the magistrate of Qiantang County. All the other officials ran away, leaving only Zhu He who led the archers and soldiers to resist. He still continued to kill the enemy after being hit by two arrows, and eventually died tragically at the hands of the Jin.

It can only be said that there are really many people who are responsible for this imperial examination without any shady secrets!

Then more than 20 people went to the side hall to change clothes one after another. Nearly a quarter of these more than twenty new scholars died during the Jingkang period and the early Southern Song Dynasty.

Some died because of their resistance to gold, and some were angered to death.

For example, the 26th Chen Bogu was a local official on the anti-golden front. He worked day and night to raise food and grass, and to appease the war-torn refugees, but his boss was embezzling money to make money. Chen Bogu died of overwork and depression.

Pan Lianggui and Song Di were the two people who had the best rapport with Ju Ming.

The former talked about the application of Taoism, and the latter talked about military warfare. The three of them could not wait to drink in the side hall.

Hundreds of Jinshi all changed their clothes, went to the main hall neatly to thank them, and then went home to rest.

There is no such thing as the No. 1 scholar parading on a horse, just like being the top one. That was something that only happened in the Ming Dynasty.

However, there were still many onlookers, vying to witness the honor of the No. 1 Scholar, and some even climbed onto the trees.

Ju Ming threw the clothes he had changed to Bai Sheng. He was wearing new clothes and boots. The outer robe is made of green Luo fabric, tied with a light yellow belt, and there is a yellow silk shirt inside. The long robe has long sleeves and is riding a horse. It also attracted many people to watch.

Many women also came to watch the fun. When they saw that Ju Ming was handsome and looked majestic on his horse, they threw flowers and fruits one after another.

"What is the name of the number one scholar?"

"My name is He Su."

"Who's riding the horse?"

"do not know."

"..."

The location of the roll call has been changed several times. Now it is done in front of Jiying Hall, never at Donghua Gate.

The roll call is related to Donghua Gate because the officials of the Ministry of Rites want to announce the top three to the outside world outside Donghua Gate, and then spread it to the entire city of Tokyo.

"What's your name, sir? Who is this person in this department?" A girl boldly shouted to Zhu Ming.

Ju Ming looked away with a smile and held his hands in silence.

But Bai Sheng led the horse and shouted: "My husband's name is Zhu Ming, and the third person in this department is the third person to visit the flower!"

"It's Tanhua Lang, it's Tanhua Lang!"

The women on the street went crazy because Ju Ming was much more handsome than the top pick and the second pick.

In an instant, flowers came overwhelmingly, accompanied by many fruits.

The emperor specially sent guards to protect the safety of the new Jinshi. At this time, he was so frightened that he yelled at them because some Jinshi had already been hit by the fruit.

The entire city of Tokyo seemed to have completely forgotten its worries and was cheering because of the imperial examination.

Zhu Ming turned to look at He Su. The number one scholar was very proud of himself. Moreover, his two brothers also passed the Jinshi examination together, which truly brought glory to their ancestors. Did you ever expect that you would die of hunger strike?

Back at the inn, everyone was happy, but Min Zishun and Bai Chongyan were quite anxious.

Anyone from First Grade to Fourth Grade Jinshi can be directly awarded an official title.

A large number of Wujia Jinshi still need to take the examination. Min Zishun and Bai Chongyan are both fifth-class Jinshi. If they fail the examination, they will have to wait for dispatch.

The next day, the emperor held a wedding banquet in the Gongyuan of the Ministry of Rites.

This kind of banquet did not have so many rules in the past, but now it is very cumbersome because Song Huizong promulgated Zhenghe New Etiquette.

Zhu Ming followed the banquet officer into the door and stood in the atrium waiting with all the Jinshi.

Each Jinshi was given a few flowers to put on their heads to represent happiness.

After a series of procedures, the band played Zhengan music, and the eunuch shouted: "I will give you a wedding banquet!"

The Jinshi entered to pay homage to the emperor. This time they no longer had to kneel, they only had to bow.

Of course, if the emperor promulgates a temporary edict, the number one scholar will need to lead everyone to kneel down to accept it. Because the temporary edict at the wedding banquet means that the emperor's favor is great, this generation of Jinshi will definitely be awarded more and more important officials.

Everyone arranged their seats according to rank A, with Ju Ming sitting in third place.

There were not many officials attending the banquet, all wearing purple robes, but there were more than a dozen poets from Dasheng Mansion.

There were also royal painters accompanying the banquet, such as Zhang Zeduan and so on.

The opening chapter is about giving poems. Huizong of the Song Dynasty wrote poems himself and gave them to new scholars.

The number one scholar answered the poem first, with great literary talent, and everyone applauded.

The second place on the list followed the answer poem, which was a bit mediocre.

Then it was Zhu Ming's turn, and Song Huizong said: "I have read your eight poems. I can't make too many mistakes in my answer today."

The poets in Dasheng Mansion all looked at Ju Ming, most of them expecting him to make a fool of himself.

Because Ju Ming's answer in Jiying Palace yesterday was so hurtful that he actually denounced all Dasheng poets as sycophants.