In the Royal Hotel in Beijing, Tian Yuanshan is preparing something. He has been in the capital for more than ten days and is planning to formally visit Liu Jin today.
When they first learned from their father that the people who came to celebrate the New Year at their home were actually the emperor and the chief minister of the cabinet, Liu Gong, the entire Tian family was in disbelief.
The emperor of the Ming Dynasty and the chief minister of the cabinet actually came to Huangjinzhou for fun. My family also had such a relationship with the family of Mr. Liu, the chief minister of the cabinet. My father actually worked for Liu Gong before and did things.
My own family was really full of ancestors. The emperor and Liu Gong lived in my home for a while, and even celebrated the New Year together. They even got the emperor's calligraphy treasure.
No wonder Tian Erniu was so respectful to these two people. Tian Erniu, who had always been stingy, spent on these two people without blinking an eye, and was willing to spend more money on them.
This time when he went to Beijing to take the exam, Tian Erniu also specifically told him to pay a visit to Liu Jin and his son, and he might become famous in the future.
"It's better not to bring these yellow and white things. It is said that Mr. Liu never accepts gifts, let alone inscriptions or anything else. He has never even received payment for refining his pen."
"When I go to visit Mr. Liu, I can only do so as a junior nephew. It's okay to give him some specialties from the Golden Continent. These gold, silver, jewelry and the like are absolutely not allowed."
"Not only will Mr. Liu not accept it, but he will also create a bad impression."
In order to visit Liu Jin this time, Tian Yuanshan did enough homework and found someone to inquire in detail. Only then did he realize that Liu Gong was very different from other officials.
He didn't accept gifts or any writing fees, so there was no way to find Liu Jin for inscriptions. After Liu Jin left the court, he basically didn't see any guests, unless there was something particularly important or something.
Especially important people, otherwise they would all be missing.
This is already something everyone in the capital knows.
Liu Gong has always been fair in his work. The promotion and reuse of officials only depend on your ability. A large number of officials who are practical and practical have been promoted and reused, while those who can only talk high-key and have no practical ability are basically difficult to be promoted.
.
As for those who want to use the back door, there isn't even one.
Tian Yuanshan brought some dried squid from Qianhe City, ginseng from the north, bison jerky from the plains and other local specialties from Huanghuangzhou to visit Liu Jin.
As soon as I arrived at the hotel lobby, I was stopped by many students.
"Brother Tian~Brother Tian~"
"I'm going to watch a football match, how about you go too?"
Zeng Ziying said quickly when she saw Tian Yuanshan preparing to go out with his servants.
They came earlier. They all came to take the exam and stayed in the same hotel. They went back and forth. Within a few days, everyone became brothers to each other.
Literary people are like this, not to mention that everyone is interested in making friends with each other, getting to know each other more, and preparing for their future career. Therefore, almost all the students living in the hotel have met each other.
We all know each other more or less, and we often go out together in small groups.
There are so many places to visit in the capital, and now it is the imperial examination event that takes place every three years. Merchants of all sizes in the capital have also begun to prepare for the imperial examination event one after another, launching many elegant activities, such as pairing
, guessing word puzzles, writing poems and songs, etc., all have corresponding rewards.
This also makes these students who come to the capital have a great time, especially some brothels and Chuguan, which often play very elegantly, which makes these students linger and forget to return.
"Yes, yes~"
"I heard that the football in this capital is very good. You must not miss it. The level is very high. It is far from comparable to our hometown. You must go and see it."
Li Xiangdong also followed suit.
"Brother Tian seems to be going out~"
Ruan Wenhao looked at Tian Yuanshan and the many things carried by the servants behind him, and also said.
"Brothers, I'm really sorry~"
"Today I have to visit an elder in the capital, so I can't go out with you all. I'll invite you all to have dinner and drinks together later."
Tian Yuanshan looked at the people in front of him. They all knew him after coming to the capital.
This Zeng Ziying is from Black Earth Province, and her ancestors are from Suzhou Prefecture in Jiangnan Province. Ruan Wenhao is a descendant of the Ruan family, a local wealthy family in Cochin. Chen Peter is also a Slavic native of Black Earth Province. The others are also from all over the country.
's students.
"elder?"
When Zeng Ziying heard this, he immediately became interested and said: "Aren't you from Huangjinzhou? There are elders in the capital. Are you going to visit a certain minister in the court?"
"You can't do this. We have agreed that if there is a chance, we should support each other and introduce each other. A few days ago, when I visited Mr. Zhang, I brought many brothers with me.
We went to Taiwan together.”
"Yes, yes~"
"What Brother Zeng said is true. Brother Tian, can you take us with you?"
When Sun Tianjing, Jiang Xi and others heard this, they immediately started talking.
For students like them, having fun in the capital is not the most important thing. The most important thing is to naturally find ways to make friends with people from the same period or the same year. It is best to visit the ministers of the DPRK and China together. In this way
If so, maybe there will be another way in the future.
Of course, this has always been a tradition.
Every time there is an imperial examination, it is also a time for these ministers to increase their income.
Students from all over the country will visit these ministers in various names, such as fellow disciples, fellow villagers, classmates, juniors, etc. They will visit these ministers in various names.
Just like Tang Bohu in history, he followed Zhang Jing to visit Cheng Minzheng, the right minister of the Ministry of Rites at that time, and like others, he begged for documents in gold.
This kind of thing was already a tacitly written matter in the official circles of the Ming Dynasty. Even great talents like Tang Bohu would inevitably visit the ministers of the court like everyone else, and then shamelessly ask for calligraphy. Of course
This calligraphy treasure is not free, it all costs money.
Moreover, the cost is relatively huge. The higher the rank of the official, the more expensive the calligraphy treasure is. A few hundred taels of silver is just a trivial matter. Thousands of taels of silver and tens of thousands of taels of silver are also very common.
Sometimes gold is given directly.
In the words of literati, this is called a thousand pieces of gold that is easy to get, but a word that is hard to find.
There was actually nothing wrong with Tang Bohu and Xu Jing visiting their fellow villager Cheng Minzheng. They wanted to send some gold and some calligraphy. This was what everyone did.
The fault was that Tang Bohu was too arrogant. Before the imperial examination had even started, he said that he would definitely go to high school. Naturally, the other people were extremely unhappy after hearing this. And knowing this, they were naturally
Will take the opportunity to make a fuss.
It not only harmed myself, but also implicated Cheng Minzheng. In fact, this was just a very ordinary visit. Spending some money to buy calligraphy or something was not a leak at all. Cheng Minzheng, the Minister of Etiquette, had no need to leak it just for some money.
question.
As for Tang Bohu, a person who has always been arrogant, he can't even spend money to buy questions, because he has his own pride. But in the end, the matter was exposed. No matter you are innocent or something, the court must express it.
Therefore, it is really not a big deal for this student to visit the officials of the DPRK and the Central Government to ask for calligraphy.
Especially in the past, when the salary of Ming officials was so low that it was difficult to support themselves, it was a helpless move to generate income in this way.
Even Liu Jian, the chief minister of the cabinet, was not exempt. Liu Yu, the trilateral leader, relied on his relationship with Liu Jian, a fellow villager. He often went to Liu Jian's house to order calligraphy and other things, and he rose to prominence only after receiving Liu Jian's recommendation.
Naturally, students like them know this best.
In particular, Zeng Ziying, Sun Tianjing and other Ming students knew this. They also had elders in their families, teachers in private schools, classmates in the same year, and other teachers at the same time. They were very familiar with this set of things due to the influence of their ears and eyes.
"Brother Tian, this is your fault. A few days ago, we all went to visit Mr. Zhang together. You have elders who are officials in Beijing. How can you go alone when you go to visit? If you want to go, naturally
It would be better if we all go together, so that we can appear more sincere when asking for calligraphy treasures."
"Yes, yes, Brother Tian, can you tell me which member of the court you are going to visit?"
"I won't go to the football match. Brother Tian, can you take me to visit him?"
When other people heard this, they immediately lost interest in watching football matches.
Visiting the ministers in the court is naturally the most important thing, especially if you can visit those important ministers in the court, it will be even more important.
Many students came to the capital early. Do you think they really came here to have fun and prepare for the imperial examination in advance?
In fact, they come here to the capital to walk around and visit the princes in the court, for no other reason than to become familiar with each other. Then, if there is a chance in the future, these princes in the court can think of themselves and promote themselves.
If so, it would save many years of effort.
Therefore, many times, these students who take the college entrance examination in Beijing need to spend a lot of time visiting the ministers of the court. Today they will visit Duke Zhang, tomorrow they will visit Duke Li, and the day after tomorrow they will visit the prince. It is very frequent and the cost is very high.
Often these students have to bring a lot of money with them to come to Beijing.
"This~"
Tian Yuanshan looked at the people in front of him with a troubled look on his face. He had clearly heard about Liu Jin's temper. If he went alone, it would still be okay. There were so many people going there at this time, so Liu Jin would definitely be unhappy.
of.
But looking at them again, it seems that I can't refuse.
