I am the king of the dead

Both?

How can there be a way to have the best of both worlds?

When Shang Ren learned that His Majesty was going to highlight the key points for candidates all over the world in the residence newspaper, he hurried to Wenyuan Pavilion. He didn't come to beg His Majesty to take back his life, he didn't have that much face, and he didn't come to ask for both. , Your Majesty wants complete reform of the imperial examination system, as well as complete Confucian scholars all over the world, which is impossible to ask for.

He just came to ask for a face, such as the middle way he said.

"Your Majesty, I think that in addition to the main volume, an additional volume can be added to test the way of school scholars' classics and righteousness." Shang Ren said tentatively.

Zhu Qiyu didn't think about it, he really got off the ladder, nodded and said: "What Aiqing said is comprehensive, and what Aiqing said is true."

Shang Ren didn't expect His Majesty to be so eloquent at all, he was stunned before bowing his head and said: "On behalf of the scholars in the world, I thank Your Majesty for your kindness."

Zhu Qiyu went down this slope because he considered these candidates. They had studied all their lives, and they had read the Four Books and Five Classics, but when they came to the exam, they didn't take the exam. What's the reason?

These ten years of work have come to nothing?

Whether it is the attached volume of the scriptures or the Tao Te Ching, Zhu Qiyu's purpose has been achieved, and he is muddying the water.

Over the three generations of open-mouth and closed-mouth method, the sour Confucian scholars of Yao, Shun, Yutang, and Confucius and Mencius can only be dreamers in the Imperial Academy after entering the court, and they cannot be herdsmen in local Antu.

First of all, the water of the imperial examination must be muddied, only then can the deep-rooted academic elites be muddied, and only then can the court be cleaned up.

Zhu Qiyu is lenient, but he can only be lenient.

"Bachelor of Commerce, you have nothing to do today, follow me to meet the fairy." Zhu Qiyu stood up, planning to bring Shang Ren to see the world.

"Fairy?" Shang Ren was a little confused, but His Majesty liked to watch the excitement, and Shang Ren still knew it, and every time His Majesty finished watching the excitement, Shen Yi, Minister of the Household Department, could wake up with a smile from his dream.

For example, Zhu Qiyu saw the excitement before, so he smashed the county hall in Chaoyang, and built a new county hall after it was smashed. This new county hall is magnificent, and it is good everywhere, but it is built in a low-lying place.

It's just that the bustle this time really made Shang Ren confused. Seeing a fairy?

Zhu Qiyu himself was wearing Yesa, which belonged to ordinary clothes. He asked Shang Ren to change into ordinary clothes, and half an hour later, Zhu Qiyu came out of the martial arts hall and went out with Xing'an and Lu Zhong.

If this little Zhang butcher can recognize Zhu Qiyu at a glance, the people of the capital of the Ming Dynasty, guarding the roots of the imperial city, can they not recognize Zhu Qiyu?

But even if these common people recognize him, they are not quite sure that what they see is the emperor. They will probably feel a little like it and will not take it to heart.

After Zhu Qiyu went out, he turned left and right with Shang Lu, and came to a five-storey pavilion in the middle of the front, back, left, and right, which was no different from the Yanyun Tower of Wei Guogong Xu Chengzong.

This building is five stories high, covered by layers of eaves, it is quite grand, and it is also the largest brothel in the capital of the Ming Dynasty.

Shang Ren looked at the huge signboard of the red sleeve move, and was completely speechless. He has been a gentleman's business road all his life, when did he visit a brothel?But he still had to go shopping today, and he was ordered by the emperor to go to the brothel.

"Bachelor of Commerce, do you know the origin of this red sleeve trick?" Zhu Qiyu took out a fan and flicked it, making him look more like a suave nobleman.

This Ming Festival has just passed, and the capital of the Ming Dynasty is still freezing at night. Zhu Qiyu’s fan is entirely for the purpose of being handsome. On the fan, it was a brothel woman who worked so hard to make it beautiful, and everyone who saw it would praise her for being romantic.

Zhu Qiyu's fan was selected by Lin Xiu from her internal funds, and I don't know where she copied it from the house. The fan is full of flowers.

Shang Ren watched His Majesty's examination, and hurriedly bowed his head and said, "Of course I know, it's Wei Zhuang's "Bodhisattva Man", which said: Now I recall the music in the south of the Yangtze River. At that time, I was young and my clothes were thin. Riding on a leaning bridge, the building is full of red sleeves."

"So familiar, it seems that business bachelors often come." Zhu Qiyu said jokingly.

Shang Ren was sweating directly in the gusts of cold northwest wind, and he quickly denied it: "I just read a lot and memorized it."

Old scholars like Shang Ren are actually very similar to Chen Xun, they are both rigid conservative gentlemen, they don't like to come to this place of fireworks and willow alleys.

It is this poem that is famous, not this brothel.

"Go, go in and have a look." Zhu Qiyu walked forward, but Shang Ren hesitated for a moment, and walked into the red sleeve move helplessly.

To get a business bachelor to enter a brothel, you need to do a lot of psychological construction. Whether it is against your own principles or against His Majesty's will, Shang Ren finally violated his principles and walked into this world of flowers.

The smell of rouge and gouache came out after entering the door. It was not the smell of a fox's nest as rumored, but a sweet fragrance. Shang Lu sneezed abruptly. Although the smell was quite The relatively small place is already considered elegant, but for Shangren, it is still too pungent.

"Six nobles!" The tortoise in front of the door took a closer look at the people who came, and felt that they were too expensive, so he immediately cheered up and yelled loudly.

The tortoise immediately came up and said with a smile on his face: "Please leave a name for the masters. I will see you in the future, so I won't be so blind that I can't figure out where the nobles come from."

Zhu Qiyu pulled out a waist card from his sleeve and handed it over, "Jimo Huang, have you heard of it?"

When the tortoise heard this, his eyes became brighter, and he said with a more respectful attitude: "I know, I know, Jingyong is a great man of culture and virtue, and his book is upright and Daochang. .”

Zhu Qiyu didn't even know about this incision, but this young man is so familiar with it, it seems that the Huang family, a wealthy businessman from Shandong, has a very high status in the world.

When Nei Mian was choosing a waist card, he only felt that this family was low. Even this Jimo Huang family had a thousand choices.

This Jimo Huang family took the lead in responding to His Majesty's edict during the reform of farmland law in Shandong, and incorporated the farmland and pond under his name into the farm.

Then the Huang family in Jimo incorporated all their farmland and ponds into the farm. There are so many people in the Huang family, what do they eat and drink?Did the tree fall and the hozen scatter?

No, on the contrary, it became more and more prosperous.

Because the Jimo Huang family has obtained the shipping certificate from the imperial court, in terms of maritime trade, they don't have to go to Songjiang Mansion to fight with others every year to fight for the little quota. Not only did they not lose money, they also made a lot of money. He has earned the title of the number one wealthy businessman in Shandong.

This Jimo Huang clan has made such a big name, but it has not become more arrogant, but more submissive, and can clearly see the general trend. The Patriarch of the Jimo Huang clan is not stupid at all. Extravagant households, on the contrary, must cover up what they do, otherwise, they will use the lives of their entire family to test the limits of His Majesty's benevolence.

Therefore, this Jimo Huang family is not only arrogant but also kind in the Jianghu, so it has a great reputation.

"Open Jingxiu Pavilion, please come to the nobleman's side." The turtle man's eyes were vicious, he looked at the belt badge and then at the jade pendant, and immediately said loudly.

This jade pendant looked like it was made by a famous master, and it was very valuable, but this noble young man ignored the jade pendant, and didn't even look at it after bumping into it.

In the eyes of the nobles, gold and silver are all things.

And the person who served the noble son had a white face and clean beard, he looked like an eunuch at first sight, and only a noble family could afford such eunuchs.

Zhu Qiyu stopped talking and went upstairs, and then Xing'an said with a smile: "We heard that there is a teacher's banquet here today. I have never seen anything in the world since I was a child. I want to see it. I wonder if it can be arranged?"

"It's easy to say." Gui Gong smiled like a chrysanthemum, reached out to take the silver ingot, and shook it for about one or two, his smile became more sincere.

One tael of silver is already a lot of money.

Scholars who are going to Beijing to take the exam will probably have to hire a teacher in the capital. If they can learn some knowledge about the imperial examination, they will be satisfied. If they can get a few words of advice, they will be grateful. If you take care of it once or twice, then you will hold grass and tie a ring to repay your great kindness and virtue.

This is what Zhu Qiyu said, the students who came to Beijing are asking everywhere.

The disciples of each of these teachers have become the third kind of party after the same list and fellow countrymen. As long as the same teacher has this status, it is an alliance.

For example, Wang Huazhen, who suffered a disastrous defeat in Guangning during the Tianqi period, survived because he was Ye Xianggao, the Duke of Ming Dynasty and the leader of the Donglin Party in the world, but Xiong Tingbi, who guarded Shanhaiguan, was beheaded for public display.

What Zhu Qiyu wants to watch today is the feast for teachers.

This Confucian accepted ten bacon bundles for each student, not to mention these students who came to Beijing to seek advice?

Every time the imperial examination is held, it is a carnival in the brothel, because there are people who put wine and banquets everywhere.

Zhu Qiyu sat down, Xing'an had already ordered the table, noodles and other things, His Majesty did not eat food outside the palace, so these things ordered were naturally just for show.

As soon as he sat down, a melodious sound of the qin came to his ears. It was like an oriole singing a cappella. Behind the emerald green screen, there was a looming figure, and soon the rapid sound of a pipa sounded like a kingfisher flapping its wings.

The sound of the piano was melodious, the pipa was light, and when the silk and bamboo were pleasing to the ears, two groups of fairies flew out from both sides of the emerald green screen. When the sleeve is dancing, it is faintly visible.

The fairies who danced to the rhythm of the music, when the music stopped abruptly, held their red sleeves with one hand, half covered their pretty faces, and looked at the nobleman with big watery eyes, with The shyness of wanting to refuse or welcome.

Zhu Qiyu tapped his right palm with his left hand, expressing his affirmation for the opening dance. He said to Shang Ren: "We thought this fairy lived in the sky before, but now I know that it turns out to be in this Accord."

The folk nickname for prostitutes is fairy, which was widely circulated in the Tang Dynasty. For example, Li Shangyin referred to prostitutes as goddesses in "Untitled Mochou Hall under the Heavy Curtain".

"Thanks to Master Huang's praise, let Master Huang choose one or two?" Seeing the smiles on the faces of the host and guest, the young servant hurried forward to sell, but this young servant did not talk to Zhu Qiyu, but to Xing'an.

The servant himself is a servant, so when he asked about his name, he naturally had to answer with the host and the guest. After asking about his name, the servant only talked to the servant.

There is a difference between honor and inferiority.

Xing'an and Zhu Qiyu whispered a few times before Xing'an said with a disappointed face: "Just leave a few to accompany the wine."

Xing'an, the flower and bird envoy, asked himself hard enough, but if His Majesty didn't let go, no matter how much he did, it would be futile.

Ever since Ran Siniang and Chen Wanniang entered the palace, Gao Jieyu had been sent to His Majesty's side by the Empress Qiansui these years, and no one had been added to the harem, which was very worrying for Xing'an.

Xing'an is someone close to Zhu Qiyu, and he is very clear about His Majesty's preferences. The only request His Majesty has for the people next to him is peace of mind, but it is such a simple request, but it is difficult for Xing'an, who is omnipotent in the eyes of countless people, to break.

"In the fifth year of Jingtai, there was a student named Li Sui who was enrolled in an imperial examination. He was from Zhenxiong Mansion in Sichuan. I don't know if Master Shang still remembers it." Zhu Qiyu said to Shang Ren with a serious face.

Shang Ren shuddered suddenly and bowed his head and said: "I remember, this person turned around and went to Dengwen Drum Academy to beat the Dengwen Drum that hadn't been played for more than 50 years without reading the rankings when he was admitted to the imperial examination. The most serious case in Sichuan, as well as the Huanglong and Wei Baomin uprisings."

If Shang Ren was Sanyuan Jidi, his memory is really good. Zhu Qiyu can't remember the names of the two leaders of the civil uprising in Zhenxiong Mansion, Sichuan, but Shang Ren still remembers.

Zhu Qiyu saw that Shang Ren still remembered this person, so he said with a little emotion: "When we saw Li Sui, Master Hu said that he went bankrupt and walked five thousand miles. There is only a backbone left, and I refuse to bend down!"

"However, this kind of humble disciple has the ambition to serve the country, but has no money to invite a teacher. How can he afford such a banquet?"

Li Sui and Lang Keqian, the No. [-] scholar in the second year of Jingtai, are both Jane's characters in the emperor's heart. One has worked hard in the Xingdusi of Shaanxi for so many years, and the other is Li Sui who is still the same as before in Wenrou Township.

The Li Sui who refused to break his eyebrows and bend his waist to serve the powerful was still the Li Sui whose spine was too hard to bend down.

Chapter 853 A real man, living between heaven and earth

Like Li Sui, he had to travel five thousand miles to come to the capital to participate in the Spring Festival after bankruptcy. How could the idle silver in the hands of the capital be enough for such a standard banquet?

It is very important to invite a teacher to a banquet. In the most ruthless Vanity Fair in the officialdom, if there is no one behind you, even a petty official will smack your nose at you.

"When Master Shang took part in the imperial examination, didn't he participate in such a banquet?" Zhu Qiyu looked at Shang Ren's rather reserved appearance and asked knowingly.

As one of the Nine Ministers, Shang Ren, Zhu Qiyu had made a negative comment on Shang Ren. If not, how could Shang Ren be the Minister of Taichang Temple.

"The family is poor, so there is no way to read books." Shang Ren looked at such a luxurious place and the women who accompanied him, showing a wry smile.

Shang Ren quoted a sentence from Song Lian's "Preface to Sending a Horse to Dongyang" written by Song Lian, a well-known civil servant in the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasties, expressing that he did not have the money to organize such a feast for teachers.

Being poor is probably a common portrayal of a poor family. To be able to come to the capital to take part in the examination, I have already spent all my wealth.

"Then Master Shang is really powerful." Zhu Qiyu said sincerely.

Shang Ren was the only legal Sanyuan Jidi in the Ming Dynasty. The other Huang Guan was expelled from his fame by Zhu Di. He was able to get Sanyuan Jidi without asking a teacher back then.

Shang Ren said with a sigh: "Xuande has passed the township examination for ten years, wasted ten years and failed to pass the examination, and orthodox ten years before passing the rank. Looking back, ten years have passed."

Shang Lu has already won the first place in the provincial examination in Xuande for ten years, but the intervening ten years has been wasted until the orthodox ten years before he won the first place in the general examination and the palace examination. The powerlessness and sorrow of recalling the past.

The wastage of these ten years is the cause and effect of Shang Ren's inability to hire a teacher, and it is the darkest moment in his life.

When he was hit by Juren, he thought he was a fish jumping through the dragon's gate, only to realize that there was a darker road waiting for him ahead, and this road would last ten years.

If Shang Lu had so much money, he would have been awarded Jinshi for his talent, but he didn't have the money, so he could only pass the exam like this.

Ten years of Zhengtong was an interesting time. At that time, Yang Shiqi had just fallen from power, and Wang Zhen was stealthily usurping the artifact. Shang Ren seized such an opportunity to show his face.

"This Master Shang has been in a high position all year round, so no one invites Master Shang?" Of course Zhu Qiyu knew what kind of life Shang Ren was living in those ten years without a high school education. The bitterness of it cannot be explained clearly in a few words.

On the contrary, Shang Ren was famous for his title on the gold list in the early days, and he was on the rise, and he sat in the Hanlin Academy until he was a bachelor of the Imperial Academy.

"Yes, but I rejected them all." Shang Ren was silent for a moment and said: "Out of the silt but not stained, clean ripples but not demon, this world cannot be cleared and turbid, only to be alone."

Shang Lu was deeply hurt by this banquet, how could he encourage this trend?

Ten years, how many decades can a life have?

Of course, some people are not like this, and some people will retaliate and encourage this kind of unhealthy tendencies. Instead of hating this phenomenon, they are in the same boat and help evildoers, and they are the majority.

Once they gain power, even the dogs in their own village have to arrange a position and receive some salary.

Zhu Qiyu said with a smile: "If all the scholars in the world were as independent as Master Shang, they would have repaid the world long ago. However, Master Guan Shang seems to have no intention of getting promoted and getting rich. He writes some history books all day long. A man who lives in the world In the meantime, be a Marquis and a Prime Minister!"

Shang Ren immediately said: "I know myself, I don't have the ability to roll in the mud, so it's better to be more expensive, and it will naturally be more expensive."

People have self-knowledge.

Shang Ren has been studying books for so many years, and his head has long been dull. Let him study history and he can study and tell the truth and the truth clearly. Maybe one day someone will set you up, You don't know it, and you will be sent to prison in a daze.

He went from a bachelor of the Imperial Academy to Taichang Temple, and he really couldn't stay in the Imperial Academy.

As for the emperor's intention to promote him, he can only thank the emperor for his kindness.

Zhu Qiyu never pushes people. Of course, after learning about Shang Ren in detail, he wanted to change Shang Ren from a government official to an administrative officer, so he took Shang Ren out to watch the excitement, but it seemed that Shang Ren had no intention of doing this, so he This topic stopped.

I haven't watched the excitement with His Majesty, so how can I be named a Marquis and a Prime Minister?

The twisted melon quenches thirst, but is not sweet.

The fairies who accompanied the wine somewhat felt something strange from the atmosphere of the inside and outside of the words. This noble son is probably a very noble person, and he is definitely not a merchant's family.

Which of the scholar-officials who came to Hongxiu Zhao didn't look at people with their nostrils?It is those wealthy and luxurious households who can show off in front of them, but in front of these scholar-bureaucrats in the court, all of them are humble.

This very powerful Master Shang, listening to their chitchat, is obviously an orthodox ten-year Jinshi and a Jinshi, and his official rank in the court is not low, but even such a person, in front of this noble son, is also inferior.

The young master didn't move his chopsticks, and the commerce bachelor didn't even dare to look at it.

On the one hand, Shang Ren’s restraint is because he is really not suitable for this kind of fireworks place. He has been a gentleman all his life. A person who is unhappy in the court.

The second aspect was that His Majesty was in front of him, he dared not be unrestrained, and disrespectful in front of the palace, that would be disrespectful.

The fairies who accompanied the wine seemed to be joking and making the scene extremely lively, but they were also quite careful. With Zhu Qiyu as the center of the circle, within five feet, two atmospheres with different atmospheres inside and outside were formed. .