Chapter 471 470 The shrunken Fengtian Palace

Chapter 471 470 The shrunken Fengtian Palace

Liu Xian's surname is Gong, or is he from Nanchang?

Wei Guangde is really not sure about this. After all, civil servants and military officers have different paths. No one would care about a general.

What's more, people I don't know or have met.

When several people were talking excitedly, there was a figure shaking at the curtain outside the door. It seemed that someone had reached the door and wanted to come in but was blocked by the gatekeeper.

"Hear the news, I just received it."

There was a voice outside the door and everyone's eyes turned to it.

Seeing this, Li Fang hurriedly walked over, opened the curtain first and went out, naturally to see what was going on.

Prince Yu is chatting lively with several adults in the room now. It's nothing important, so it's best not to disturb the prince's leisurely mood.

Soon, Li Fang reopened the door curtain and returned to the room. In front of everyone's eyes, she handed a note in her hand to King Yu and said: "I just got the news from the court. Mr. Lei Lilei, the Minister of Industry, is the governor." I wish to resign from the post of official for the reason of work."

"The three main halls are about to be completed, and there is also the project on Tianshou Mountain in Changping. It is probably very busy."

Zhang Juzheng stroked his beard and said.

King Yu took it, looked at it, handed it to Yin Shizhen, and said, "Shang Shu Lei is resigning, and I don't know who the free reader will be." ’

No one in the room answered, and I really couldn't figure out who it would be in the end.

The record reader appointed by Emperor Jiajing this time is a bit strange. It seems to be conveying a certain signal, but it seems that it is not, making people confused.

Of course, memorials related to the palace examination were immediately sent to the hands of Emperor Jiajing of Xiyuan.

In the Yuxi Palace, Emperor Jiajing had read Lei Li's memorial and put it gently on the imperial desk. After thinking for a moment, he said to Huang Jin: "Lei Li can't read the scroll, and he doesn't force it. He still keeps it in it and increases it." Li Chunfang, the left minister of the Ministry of Personnel and a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, read the volume."

"I will go and deliver the order right away."

Huang Jin hurriedly agreed, then quickly walked out of Yuxi Palace and sent someone to convey the decree to Li Chunfang.

Emperor Jiajing's attitude was very clear. He agreed to Lei Li's request and would not participate in the examination paper reading. He only kept his name among the paper readers. After all, he was the Minister of the Ministry of Industry.

Wei Guangde found out the news early the next morning and was not surprised.

If he really followed Lei Li's request and removed his name from the list of examiners, then no one from the Ministry of Industry would participate in the examination.

Relatively speaking, most of the document readers should come from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Officials. It is impossible for the Minister of the Ministry of Industry to take over from the Minister to participate in the document reading.

However, I don't know if Prince Yu would feel resentful about sending Li Chunfang to take over Lei Li's responsibilities to participate in reading papers.

Speaking of which, it seems that the Minister of Rites should be more involved in reading the papers.

Now that Xu Jie and Yuan Wei have taken the job of file readers, Wei Guangde can only temporarily put aside the commission from Nanjing.

On March 14, the officials of Honglu Temple and Guanglu Temple began to be busy. They had to arrange the examination rooms for the palace examination in advance.

Of course, these things have nothing to do with Wei Guangde, but he also has to prepare. After all, for the imperial examination tomorrow, officials like them in Beijing will have to dress up and go to court.

Emperor Jiajing only went to court, and even the three major court meetings in a year were customarily cancelled. However, he still insisted on participating in the palace examination that was held every three years. After all, for most Jinshi, it may be a once-in-a-lifetime meeting. opportunity to the emperor.

On the day of the imperial examination, Wei Guangde, like other officials from the capital, put on his court clothes and went outside the Meridian Gate early. The difference from previous years was that he was now among the officials of the Zhanshi Mansion. After all, he was already a shuffler of the Economic Affairs Bureau and was still in charge. Although None of his four men were qualified to participate in such a ceremony.

Speaking of the Economic Affairs Bureau, there are not many official positions, that is, there is one person from Xi Ma, from the fifth grade, and the remaining four people are the editor of the ninth grade and two from the ninth grade.

As far as their rank is concerned, officials who are not of the highest rank naturally do not need to participate in the palace examination ceremony.

Not long after standing outside the Meridian Gate, there was a sound of footsteps behind him. Wei Guangde looked back and saw officials from the Ministry of Rites walking with a kind of Gongsheng, three hundred people, a dense crowd.

When he saw them, Wei Guangde felt a little dazed, and couldn't help but think of himself a few years ago, who seemed to be like this, walking in an uneasy mood, and perhaps the officials in the capital at that time looked at him like this.

A smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and then he shook his head slightly.

He didn't have time to find Duan Mengxian in the Gongsheng group. With his ranking, he probably went to the back of the crowd like him, which was a lot of trouble.

As the time came, Wei Guangde followed the official team into the Forbidden City, passed through the Meridian Gate to outside the Fengtian Gate, and then continued to enter. When he arrived at the Fengtian Palace Square, officials from the Ministry of Rites and Honglu Temple had already divided the positions where the officials should stand. If there is a vacant space, it is naturally a place prepared for the Gongsheng students.

However, after entering Fengtian Gate and seeing the newly built Fengtian Hall, Wei Guangde was still slightly surprised. Why was it so different from the Fengtian Hall in his impression?

The main work of the three main halls has been completed, and now the only thing left is actually the interior decoration. So standing in the square, the feeling is no different from the past. But the more I look at it, the more I feel that Fengtian Hall has shrunk. The more I look at it, the more I feel that the main hall is different from the third floor. The platform is somewhat out of proportion.

The three-story platform appears large, while Fengtian Hall appears small.

The Fengtian Hall is the highest-level building in this era. It is only used during the country's most solemn ceremonies such as the emperor's accession to the throne, after the wedding ceremony, Wanshou Festival, the Winter Solstice, the personal expedition ceremony, and the emperor's visit to the court.

The roof of the double-eaves veranda of Fengtian Hall is covered with yellow glazed tiles. It is nine rooms wide and five rooms deep. Nine is the extreme number of yang, five is among yang numbers, and ninety-five means the greatest and most noble. The building area is also 30 rooms wide. Zhang, fifteen feet deep.

But now in Wei Guangde's eyes, why does he feel so much smaller?

Since the fire that year, Wei Guangde has never entered Fengtianmen again, so naturally he knows nothing about the three main halls that are being rebuilt.

In the thirty-eighth year of Jiajing's palace examination, because the construction of the three main halls was in progress, the square was filled with wood collected from various places. Naturally, it could not be used to hold the palace examination, so the ceremony was held outside Fengtian Gate. Emperor Jiajing also I just climbed up to Fengtian Gate and took a look.

This should be the first time after the reconstruction of the three main halls that the officials of the court are welcomed.

Wei Guangde counted it carefully in his mind. The current Fengtian Temple is still at the nine-to-five level, but the area should have shrunk a lot.

There were obviously many people who had the same thoughts as Wei Guangde. Many people quietly pointed at the Fengtian Temple in front of them with the people around them. However, there were obviously no officials from the Ministry of Industry among these officials. Maybe they had been here a long time ago or knew about it.

Wei Guangde could only guess that the newly built Fengtian Hall could only be shrunk because of the difficulty in finding large materials.

After all, the wood used to build the Fengtian Temple is not an ordinary thing, and the growth of trees also takes time.

Perhaps in the past, the land of China was rich in forest resources in the north and south, and there was a lot of wood that could be mined. However, as the population grew, the demand for land became huge. As a result, a large number of trees were cut down, so that now, even for reconstruction, The wood for the main hall is already hard to find.

He could only sigh slightly in his heart, and Wei Guangde retracted his thoughts.

There is no way, because of the difference between Eastern and Western building materials. If a Western building encounters a fire, as long as the fire can be controlled, the appearance of the building will not have much impact. After all, it is mainly made of stone. At best, the interior can be renovated afterwards.

To the east, a fire is enough to reduce the ingenious buildings to ashes.

The officials stood still, and soon the candidate team also entered Fengtian Gate and stood behind the officials.

Amidst the sound of ritual music, the emperor's guard of honor appeared. Emperor Jiajing walked onto the platform in his official uniform, stood outside Fengtian Hall, and sat on the throne that had been prepared.

The emperor ascended to the palace.

"Pah, pah, pah"

The sound of the cleansing whip sounded at the right time, and all the officials knelt five times and kowtowed three times while the officials of Honglu Temple sang in harmony. After that, the emperor naturally handed down the examination questions.

"In the 41st year of Renxu's court, the imperial court of Renxu tested the world's tributes and said: "I have been an emperor since the past, and I have not been more holy than Yao and Shun. It is said in history that Yao and Shun hung down their clothes and the world was ruled. However, at that time, the people still thought that the flood was a disaster, and there were Miao Fu leads the way, but there are still things that have not been completely brought to peace. How can the two emperors Gu Fu restrain their ministers and leave them to their subordinates, while the superiors can do nothing. Otherwise, how can they rule with their clothes down?"

The entire palace examination ceremony was carried out in an orderly manner. Wei Guangde stood in the queue of hundreds of officials and listened quietly to the planning of the questions.

"This is a way to govern without labor. I have appreciated it and admired it very much. I have governed the world for forty years. In this day and night, the emperor's constitution and ancestors selected civil and military officials with their good thoughts and eliminated the harm to the people. During his life, he worked diligently and never slacked off. Floods and droughts caused disasters, and the people suffered from hunger. During the wars, the border areas were guarded, and the thieves in the south were especially serious. As the years passed, he still had no peace. How can he be Si Mo? My heart is broken The people try to show off their wealth, so that they suppress the elected people and fail to get the people they want, or they may neglect their duties."

The question for this examination was obviously not one requested by the cabinet and the Ministry of Rites. It should have been Emperor Jiajing himself who came up with the question and asked the questions in his mind.

From Yao and Shun's rule, to Zhou Wu, and then to the present.

Emperor Jiajing was dissatisfied with the official administration, very dissatisfied.

The only thing Wei Guangde could think of was this, "The people who were appointed failed to get the right people or neglected their duties, and the ministers in the general area failed to do their best to control the imperial bandits." He even said, "The past and present are not the same as those in the past. "if.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde couldn't help but think of the chief assistant who was still in the position of chief assistant and seemed to be on the verge of collapse. When he thought about the things entrusted to Nanjing, Wei Guangde couldn't help but have a smile on his lips.

In fact, the affairs of the Ming Dynasty could not be solved by appointing or removing one or two officials. It was a matter of the entire group. But whoever made Yan Song become the chief minister of the cabinet became the scapegoat for corruption in government.

At this time, in the eyes of the officials, it seemed that the source of all evil was Yan Song. As long as Yan Song was taken down, the Ming Dynasty's officialdom would become clearer. But is it really such a good thing?

Today's officialdom of the Ming Dynasty is mostly filthy, and the officials removed and replaced actually continue to engage in corruption according to previous "customs".

Even Wei Guangde did not have real power, otherwise he would not have been spared.

Or he was just being ignorant, imitating his predecessor and continuing to lose money, accepting the filial piety of his subordinates, and making him an enemy of hundreds of officials and the entire group of officials. He wondered if he didn't have the guts.

But now, things in Nanjing seem to be easier to handle this time.

Based on Xu Jie's experience, he might have thought of the emperor's heart, which made it easier for him to speak out in the cabinet and fight with Yan Song.

As for Yuan Wei, he could not guess the emperor's thoughts even if he thought about it.

Soon, the grand palace examination ceremony ended, and officials began to leave from both sides. Honglu Temple officials directed the chamberlains to move the examination table to prepare for the examination.

When Wei Guangde left, he finally saw Duan Mengxian at the back of the crowd.

Soon, all the officials in Fengtian Temple Square had left, and only the file reader was still there.

Inadvertently, Wei Guangde looked back at Emperor Jiajing on the throne, thinking that this emperor would leave soon.

Looking up at the sky, the weather today is quite good, with clear skies. There is no need to move the exam tables to the corridors on both sides of the square to avoid the wind and rain.

After leaving the Forbidden City, Wei Guangde walked to Prince Yu's Mansion, and soon he met Yin Shizhen, Zhang Juzheng and others.

They were all carriages and sedans, and the four of them quickly entered Prince Yu's Mansion.

The four of them walked together and quickly returned to the wing in the courtyard.

"Why does this Fengtian Temple feel much smaller than before? I haven't heard of this before."

Wei Guangde finally couldn't hold it back and said.

"It's hard to find big materials. I heard that the Ministry of Industry spent a long time looking for the current materials."

Zhang Juzheng may have heard some news from Xu Jie before, so he explained.

"It's really too small."

Yin Shizhen also echoed casually.

It was the first time after a few years that they saw the newly built Fengtian Temple. Several people were a little more emotional and chatted along this topic for a while unconsciously.

After Yin Shizhen went out, Wei Guangde picked up the book on his desk and opened it.

I have nothing to do today. I will read a book and go directly to the Jiujiang Guild Hall later to hear about Duan Mengxian’s palace examination.

After reading a book and drinking tea, Wei Guangde soon felt anxious, got up and left the room.

When I came back from the hut, I saw Li Fang coming out of the inner courtyard. Just as I was about to say hello, I saw a waiter running in from outside. He came to Li Fang first, whispered a few words, and then took out a stack of The paper was handed to Li Fang.

Li Fang took it and looked at it, and said a few words to the man before he left.

Only then did Wei Guangde walk over and say hello to Li Fang with a smile.

"Eunuch Li, what happened just now?"

At this moment, Li Fang was still holding the stack of paper in her hand, and Wei Guangde said hello and asked casually.

"Hi, Your Highness asked me to buy it."

Li Fang didn't take it seriously, and he wasn't a shady person, so he didn't take any precautions and even showed it to Wei Guangde.

Wei Guangde took the papers and looked at them. They were actually gambling tickets to buy Xu Shixing's top prize.

"Your Highness asked you to buy it? How much did you buy?"

Looking at the first gambling ticket on the table, which is one hundred taels, there are probably seven or eight in this pile, which means I have to bet hundreds of taels of silver.

"Didn't Mr. Zhang say that yesterday? His Highness was originally wavering between Wang Xijue and Xu Shixing, not knowing who to choose.

It's okay now. I know what Xu Shixing said. He gave me an order last night. I sent someone to buy Xu Shixing early in the morning and paid 800 taels of silver. "

Li Fang smiled bitterly.

Although most eunuchs like gambling, Li Fang is still an anomaly and doesn't like gambling very much.

His character is naturally incompatible with King Yu.

But even if he is a servant, if King Yu wants to bet, he can't say anything.

Wei Guangde handed back the gambling ticket in his hand, said a few words to Li Fang and walked into the courtyard. He glanced at the sky inadvertently, then turned around and walked towards the side door of the palace.