The house assigned to Wang Yuan was in Qingqingfang Toutiao Hutong, later known as Wangfujing.
There are two alleys and three alleys in the north, followed by the North Huitong Hall, the Princes Hall and the East Patrol Hall.
The Huitong Pavilion was the first post of the Ming Dynasty, and official documents sent to the whole country all started from here. The Zhuwang Pavilion was the place where the feudal kings came to the capital to live, and the Patrol Hall can be understood literally.
There are ten princes' palaces further north. The prince must live in the ten princes' palaces before his death.
Across East Chang'an Street to the south is the Taiji Factory. It was first dedicated to building foundation stones for palaces, but now it has evolved into a place for stacking firewood and fodder.
When Wang Yuan gets up every morning, he only needs to walk west along East Chang'an Street for a while to go to work at the Hanlin Academy. If he is going to court, he will walk west for a while and arrive at Chengtian Gate not far away.
In the middle of the night, Wang Yuan got up with a yawn, and when he came to the courtyard, he happened to meet Tanhua Yuben.
There are currently only Wang Yuan and Yu Ben in this courtyard, but the selection examination has ended, and it will soon be arranged for the concubines to come and live there.
"Brother Ruoxu!" Yu Ben said, cupping his fists.
Wang Yuan returned the greeting: "Brother Zihua!"
Their servants led the way with lanterns, and they followed behind and chatted while walking.
Yu Ben's great-grandfather was an official to the prefecture. Neither his grandfather nor his father were officials, but his family was well off and considered a local wealthy family.
"Brother Ruoxu, do you have any friends who passed the selection process?" Yu Ben asked.
Wang Yuan said: "When I was rushing to take the exam, I met a Sichuan scholar named Zhang Chong. We talked with each other quite well. This time, he was selected as a shuji scholar."
Yu Ben smiled and said: "Maybe they will live with us separately."
Neither Chang Lun nor Jin Lei were selected for the office this time, and the work assignments have been implemented. Together, they were sent to Dali Temple to observe politics, which is equivalent to the interns of the National Supreme Court.
The Guanzheng system was very useful in the early Ming Dynasty. A new Jinshi had to intern for more than three months and accumulate work experience before being awarded an official position. However, by the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the Guanzheng system had become a mere formality, and he could be replaced by a real official by just fooling around.
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On the way, Wang Yuan met several more Jinshi, and everyone chatted and laughed before heading to Chengtian Gate.
I also encountered many people sitting in sedan chairs, all of whom were officials of the third rank or above.
In the early Ming Dynasty, officials were not allowed to go to court in sedan chairs. Neo-Confucianists believed that this was not good and that people were simply being used like animals. But once Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di were dead, who would care about this? More and more officials violated the rules, and later it was simply stipulated that people should be above the third rank.
You can go to court in a sedan chair.
Officials of the sixth and seventh grades also ride in sedan chairs, but they do not go to court in sedan chairs.
When the Jinshi came to the city gate to check their cards and enter, they all felt very fresh and excited. Although they had entered the imperial city several times since the imperial examination, this was the first time they actually arranged to go to court.
While waiting for the court, Wang Yuan saw Jin Lei, Chang Lun, Zhang Chong and others.
After waiting and waiting, everyone realized that something was wrong. There must be too many officials attending the morning meeting today! Even some low-level miscellaneous workers came to attend the morning meeting. It was simply inexplicable.
Chang Lun's ancestors were all Jinshi for three generations. He explained with a smile: "Today is the first time for a new Jinshi to go to court. It is estimated that the Ducha Yuan and Honglu Temple are more strict in checking to avoid too many civil and military officials absent from the court. I want to give the newcomer
Leave a good impression.”
"Can you be absent from the morning court?" Jin Lei asked in surprise.
Chang Lun laughed softly and said: "I heard from my father that on a certain day in August of the fifteenth year of Hongzhi, a total of 1,160 people did not come to court, which made the late emperor furious."
Wang Yuan was speechless for a moment. More than a thousand people were absent from work during a morning court meeting. How many officials were there to attend the court meeting?
The main reason is that Zhu Yuanzhang was too capable and abolished the position of prime minister, leaving the court with no one in charge and everything had to be resolved by court meetings.
In the early years of the dynasty, all matters, big or small, must be left to the emperor for decision-making. Every morning, everyone from the top officials of the Sixth Ministry to the ninth-rank officials, and even low-ranking officials must come to attend the morning court. Even the imperial guards caught him
Thieves must be dragged before the emperor and handed over to Zhu Yuanzhang to punish him personally.
Not only that, the peasant representatives (grain chief) at that time could also go to court to see the emperor, and officials could not stop him.
Zhu Yuanzhang relied on communicating with grain chiefs to master grassroots information across the country, and some grain chiefs were even directly promoted to court officials. In the early Ming Dynasty, the grain chiefs' families did not even bother to take the Jinshi examination, because they were the most glorious grassroots representatives.
In Zhu Yuanzhang's later years, his energy was low, and court meetings became very casual, but the rules set could not be changed.
Zhu Di was away at war all year round, and the prince was fond of drinking when he was in charge of government affairs. As a result, the time of the court meetings often changed, and all civil and military officials were absent from work.
Later emperors and ministers could not bear such court meetings, so the cabinet system gradually matured. At first, it was stipulated that only eight things could be discussed at each court meeting, and later it was changed to five things.
Moreover, the matters to be reported must be handled by the cabinet ministers one day in advance, and the emperor can just follow the script when he goes to court.
what does that mean?
It means that the morning meeting is just a formality.
As a result, more and more officials were absent from work, and not attending court meetings became the norm.
During the Chenghua period, there was a noon court meeting. The emperor came but did not see the ministers. After waiting for a long time, he found that he had been let go, but not a single official came. Emperor Xianzong was so angry that he cursed: "You often speak of diligence, but I
Look at the court, but neglect it!"
Such a court meeting is really unnecessary, and it will have no impact if the emperor does not attend court for decades.
After passing the Meridian Gate and waiting for court outside Jinshui Bridge, Wang Yuan looked around and was immediately stunned. Under the moonlight, he saw densely packed heads, just like attending a temple fair on the 15th day of the lunar month.
It is roughly estimated that there may be close to 2,000 officials in court.
The Fengtian Hall can definitely fit in, but it is too crowded to be decent. Therefore, low-ranking officials and miscellaneous minor officials can only stand in the square to attend court, and are treated similar to tourists who visited the Forbidden City in later generations, except that they do not have to pay.
Just buy tickets.
Today is to welcome the new Jinshi, but tomorrow there will probably not be many people there, and even the emperor may be absent from work.
Zhang Juzheng is still awesome. This bad habit has lasted for more than a hundred years. Everyone knows that it is a waste of time and useless, but no one dares to reform the system. Only Zhang Juzheng dared to take the knife and changed the morning dynasty every day to 369 morning dynasties.
, you only need to go to bed nine times a month.
Wang Yuan was wearing the official uniform of the sixth rank, and Yang Shen and Yu Ben were wearing the official uniform of the seventh rank. Since the other Jinshi had not yet been appointed, they all wore white suits and stood silently in the crowd as a backdrop.
Unlike in the TV series, there is no eunuch shouting "If anything happens, report early, if nothing happens, leave the court".
Instead, the drum band played music, and the officials of Honglu Temple announced that they had entered the class, and then performed the ceremony and performed the ceremony.
There is no exact time for the morning dynasty. It will officially start when the sky gets slightly brighter. Zhu Houzhao obviously did not wake up. He sat yawning and listened to the matters that had been handled by the cabinet yesterday - the emperor even had a script in front of him, and various
The lines are all ready.
Liu Kai, the minister of Honglu Temple, was the first to come out: "Your Majesty, King Shangzhen of Zhongshan in the Ryukyu Kingdom has sent Liang Neng, the official to discuss the matter."
Zhu Houzhao immediately responded to the line: "Reward him."
So Liu Kai took the order and retreated.
Sun Jiao, the Minister of Household Affairs, also came out and said: "The six counties of Shangyuan, Jiangning, Jurong, Liyang, Lishui, and Gaochun under Yingtian Prefecture have suffered disasters. Please reduce the grain tax this summer."
Zhu Houzhao once again responded to the line: "Reducing taxes with him."
Sun Jiao also said: "Since the fifth year of Zhengde, the transportation has been changed to the official rice without levy (that is, the grain has been transported to the capital), which is 28,000 shi. Please give it to the warehouse."
Zhu Houzhao said: "Storage it with him."
One after another, national affairs were discussed by the big bosses, and the emperor only had to answer and express his position according to the script. However, Wang Yuan and other small officials were like wooden stakes, and everything they heard was handled by the cabinet. result.
If things go on like this, Wang Yuan also wants to skip work.
Every so often, the morning court service is over, and the ministers retreat amid the sounds of rituals and music.
Zhu Houzhao suddenly stood up: "Where is Wang Yuan?"
Wang Yuan was about to leave, but upon hearing this, he immediately stepped forward and said, "I'm here."
Zhu Houzhao smiled and said: "Accompany me to play in the Leopard Room... Well, I came to Xiyuan to serve as an errand. I have something important to tell you in detail."
The ministers all reacted differently when they heard this, and most of them cast envious glances at Wang Yuan.