Everyone has become accustomed to the way the emperor behaves. Only on various special festivals will he come to the court in person and give banquets to the ministers after the court is over.
Wang Yuan finished yawning outside as usual and came to Fengtian Hall to sleep with half-closed eyes.
Wang Jing, censor of Youdu, came out to report: "Chen Lianghan's wife, Mrs. Cheng, who was in charge of the Criminal Department, killed a slave and hid her body in a wooden cabinet. The next day, another attempt was made to kill a slave girl, but failed. Chen Lianghan and his wife, Mrs. Cheng, have been sent to the Imperial Guard.
After being sent to prison, they all confessed. The Metropolitan Procuratorate reviewed it and held that the Cheng family was extremely evil and should be executed according to the law. The head of the Criminal Department, Chen Lianghan, allowed his wife to commit murder, so he should be deprived of his official status and sent to guard the border!"
Including Wang Yuan, the sleepiness immediately disappeared without a trace, and all the officials were surprised by this incident.
Slaves are also human beings and naturally have personal rights.
Although the killing of slaves with sticks often happened in the Ming Dynasty, and most of them did not alarm the government. But this Cheng family was too cruel. He actually killed slaves and cut their bodies into pieces, and was addicted to killing other slaves.
Zhu Houzhao was also a little angry and said: "In the important place of the capital, at the feet of the emperor, there is actually a murder and dismemberment. The Procuratorate reported that the Cheng family should be executed and Chen Lianghan should be exiled! Also, who recommended Chen Lianghan, the head of the Criminal Department?
Let us all be held accountable to the end!”
Yang Shen's face was very ugly, because this Chen Lianghan was a member of the Lize Society and a fellow Sichuan fellow of Yang Shen. He was usually an upright person, how could he not manage the family strictly and let his wife commit murder and dismemberment?
Wang Yuan finally remembered that on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month this year, he was drinking wine and admiring the lanterns with Chen Lianghan on the painting boat.
Immediately, an official came out to take the blame for not knowing the person, and was fined three months' salary.
Liu Chun, the Minister of Rites, immediately came out and said: "Your Majesty, the Shuntian Prefecture Township Examination has been completed. Wang Yuan, the chief examiner, and Wu Yipeng, the deputy chief examiner, have made merit. Please commend them."
Wang Yuan's face was expressionless, neither happy nor sad.
But Wu Yipeng looked happy. He had been in the Hanlin Academy for many years, and was sent to Nanjing by Liu Jin to live a free life. Now he should be given a post in Zhan Shifu.
Yang Tinghe, Liang Chu and others frowned because the speech of Liu Chun, the Minister of Rites, completely bypassed the cabinet and they had no idea about it!
Zhu Houzhao said with a smile: "This is a commendation. Wang Yuan, a bachelor's student at the Hanlin Academy, was promoted to imperial minister; Wu Yipeng, a bachelor's student at the Hanlin Academy, was promoted to the imperial minister of Nanjing."
Wu Yipeng suddenly raised his head and looked at the emperor stupidly, with a black question mark on his face.
If nothing happens to this bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, he will have no choice but to stay in Nanjing for the rest of his life. Who allowed him to be recommended by Yang Tinghe as a deputy examiner?
"well!"
Yang Tinghe sighed secretly, holding the wat tablet in hand and saying that he was suffering because the emperor would retaliate endlessly.
Not long after taking office today, Party Yang was fined one with a salary, one was exiled, and the other was thrown into Nanjing.
Yang Yiqing looked at his nose with his eyes, his nose at his heart, and remained silent.
Suddenly, someone else bypassed the cabinet to do something, and it was not the imperial party. Xu Han, the right-hand official of Li Ke, came out and said: "Your Majesty, I impeach Wang Yuan, the bachelor of the Hanlin Academy and the chief examiner of the Shuntian Prefecture Township Examination!"
Wang Yuan tilted his head and looked at this person, wondering what he was doing to impeach him.
Zhu Houzhao asked: "You specially added a Shuntian Prefecture Township Examination Chief Examiner to impeach Bachelor Wang for cheating?"
"No," Xu Han cupped his hands and said, "I am impeaching Bachelor Wang to take the provincial examination. When the questions were asked, half of the major questions and half of the minor questions were given. There were some intersecting questions and embarrassing questions! The provincial examination, the general examination, and the country's success
Scholars all come up with big topics. Small topics are unorthodox in Neo-Confucianism, separate the meaning of the classics, and deviate from the classics. How can we allow them to do so?"
With a smile on his face, Zhu Houzhao asked Wang Yuan: "Scholar Wang, what do you have to defend yourself?"
Wang Yuan argued: "Your Majesty, the imperial examination questions have already existed in the orthodox dynasty and have not been banned by the imperial court. Since they are not banned, they can be done. I don't know where I am wrong."
Xu Han said angrily: "Scholar Wang, how many scholars have been harmed by your embarrassing question?"
Wang Yuan said with a smile: "If you can't even memorize "Mencius", what's the use of it? Moreover, this person ranked 87th in the Shuntianfu Provincial Examination. Although this person has forgotten the source of the question, he knows that the word '诬' is
What does it mean? It’s two hundred words long, and the article is quite good. I also added it when I was searching the papers.”
The officials were in an uproar, feeling that Wang Yuan was just messing around.
How can anyone forget the source of the question and pass the exam just because the article is well written?
Wang Yuan added: "I didn't give you ruthless answers to those short-term questions. They were all asked to answer questions. There is no difficulty at all. I only gave small questions to prevent people from memorizing the past years!"
There are indeed people who were admitted by memorizing the imperial examination essays, and there were quite a few of them. What Wang Yuan said makes sense.
Xu Han was too lazy to talk to Wang Yuan and knelt down directly and said: "I request your Majesty that from now on, the provincial examination is strictly prohibited and small questions will be asked!"
"I second the proposal!" Several more commentators appeared.
One characteristic of these officials is that they were all Jinshi in the 15th year of Hongzhi and the 18th year of Hongzhi. Their situation is very embarrassing. Their backers have left long ago. They were unable to be promoted normally during Liu Jin's chaos. Now they have to queue up to join anyone who wants to join them.
, you can only impeach officials everywhere and ask for rewards.
Zhu Houzhao thought about it carefully. He didn't want to make trouble with the officials because of this trivial matter, so he immediately said: "It's accurate. In the future provincial examinations and general examinations, no more small questions are allowed."
The officials were very happy, especially Xu Han. His suggestion was accepted by the emperor, which was another political achievement.
Zhu Houzhao asked Wang Yuan again: "Does Master Wang have anything else to say?"
Wang Yuan originally had nothing to say, but since the emperor asked, he would say a few more words. He immediately came out with a wat tablet: "I beg your majesty to allow Guizhou to hold the provincial examination on its own!"
As soon as these words came out, all the officials were shocked and looked at Wang Yuan.
Stirring a hornet's nest!
The first person to express his opposition was Yang Tinghe: "In the remote areas of Guizhou, there are few schools and not enough scholars. Holding the provincial examination without permission is a waste of money and food."
Qiao Ying, the imperial censor of the capital, also said: "Your Majesty, Guizhou needs to be cautious in setting up the provincial examination. Just because Wang Xueshi won the first prize in the exam and is from Guizhou, we should not let Guizhou set up the provincial examination on its own."
An Pan said to the matter: "Guizhou has its own truth. All other provinces have two chief envoys, but Guizhou only has one chief envoy. Why? There are too few floating officials, too many native officials, and the chieftains and barbarians are everywhere.
The same is true for the Guizhou imperial examination. How many schools are there? How many scholars are there? Each provincial examination only has 2,000 Guizhou students taking the examination, and sometimes there are only more than a thousand. If there is a separate provincial examination for these more than a thousand people, where are the provinces where tens of thousands of scholars can take the examination?
land?"
One official after another stood up to object, and they were all officials from the areas on the list!
Instead, the officials from the north and the south remained silent, watching the dog-eat-dog fight among the middle-ranking officials with a smile.
how so?
Because the Ming Dynasty National Examination is admitted on a proportional basis, only 10% of the students will be admitted in the winning areas.
Once Guizhou opens a separate subject, the number of candidates will be increased accordingly. However, as the number of candidates in Guizhou increases, the proportion of successful candidates will not change. This means that there will be more candidates from Guizhou competing with other provinces for admission.
On Wang Yuan's side, there was not a single supporter.
This is just because Guizhou has not produced a Jinshi for more than ten years. The most recent Guizhou Jinshi was Wang Yuan’s classmate’s brother Zhan En, who had died of illness seven or eight years ago. Only Wang Yuan in the civil and military dynasties was from Guizhou!
Wang Yuan held the wat tablet in his hand, smiling and saying nothing.
After all the opponents expressed their stance, he sighed: "We are from the same roots, so there is no need to worry about each other. We are all officials on the list, why are we making such a fuss?"
An Pan sneered and said: "Scholar Wang, we are discussing national affairs. Please don't distinguish between the middle list, the south list and the north list."
Wang Yuan glanced at this man and said loudly: "I want to ask you about Angui. You said that Guizhou has too few official officials and too many native officials. It is full of barbarians and scholars are scarce, so it is not suitable to hold a separate provincial examination. That's what you mean.
?"
"Isn't it the truth?" An Pan asked.
Wang Yuan then said: "Then I would like to ask An Gei Shizhong, why should we become officials?"
An Pan spoke righteously and sternly: "I report to the king and protect the people below, and I am the leader of the country and the country of the Ming Dynasty."
Wang Yuan smiled and said: "Then I would like to ask, is Guizhou the country of the Ming Dynasty? Are the people of Guizhou the people of the Ming Dynasty?"
"Of course it is." How dare An Pan say no.
Wang Yuan shouted: "Since Guizhou is the country of the Ming Dynasty, can you bear to see Guizhou controlled by chieftains? Since the people of Guizhou are scholars of the Ming Dynasty, why are they called barbarians? Even if they can't speak Chinese or write Chinese characters, can they?
Shouldn't enlightenment be implemented? Why are there so few scholars in Guizhou? It's because of ineffective education! The more this is the case, the more it is necessary to hold provincial examinations in Guizhou so that more Guizhou people can bathe in holy virtues. One day, barbarians in Guizhou will also be able to fill the court.
, only then can we show the grace of the Holy Emperor! Don’t you want the Ming Dynasty to civilize the barbarians of Guizhou? What are your intentions?”
"I...you...are using strong words!" An Pan was so shocked that he didn't know how to defend himself.
Wang Yuan suddenly changed the subject: "Your Majesty, this person has done injustice to Your Majesty, please punish him!"
An Pan said angrily: "You talk nonsense, when did I commit His Majesty's injustice?"
Wang Yuan asked: "In the fourth year of Zhengde, did you encourage His Majesty to pursue the imperial edict of your mentor?"
The whole place was dead silent, no one spoke.
Not only An Pan's expression changed drastically, but several other officials also trembled, and even Zhu Houzhao looked unnatural.
During Liu Jin's rise to power, he not only forced away Liu Jian, Xie Qian and other ministers, but also took away their imperial edicts and rewards. Pingjiang Bo Chen Xiong was exiled to Hainan, and he fell through the cracks in the pursuit of imperial edicts. Liu Jin ordered the officials of the Ministry of Science and Technology to strictly control the imperial edicts.
check.
An Pan and others took the opportunity to go to court and said that these guys Liu Jian and Xie Qian were so heinous that they not only wanted to take away their royal titles, but also their wives, parents, and the gifts of three generations of their ancestors!
Nowadays, although the rewards of Liu Jian and Xie Qian have been restored, the shameless neglect of those officials is a stain that they will never be able to wash away in their lifetime.
Zhu Houzhao was quite embarrassed and said: "Scholar Wang, don't mention old things. Today we will only talk about the Guizhou Provincial Examination!"
Wang Yuan walked to the center of the hall with a smile and asked: "Do you know, colleagues, that when I was taking the provincial examination, I was robbed by bandits on the way? The mountain road was narrow at that time, and only two people could walk side by side. Hundreds of bandits blocked the way forward and backward, and then
Throwing rocks and arrows on the hillside, trying to kill us and other Guizhou residents!"
Zhu Houzhao nodded and said, "I heard Li Sanlang talk about it."
Wang Yuan continued: "Fortunately, I still have some martial arts skills. I rode my horse up the mountain wall and beheaded the bandit leader with one sword. Then I braved the rain of arrows and killed dozens of bandits on the mountain with my horse. Only then was there no danger.
They went to Yunnan to take the provincial examination! Who among you can understand the hardships of Guizhou scholars?"
The officials were stunned and speechless.
Wang Yuan added: "I am from Xuanweisi, Guizhou. I have to walk more than two thousand miles to go to Yunnan for the rural examination. Farther away, there are Sinan, Yongning and other government guards. They have to walk three to four thousand miles! This is not the Central Plains.
Along the thousands of miles of road to the south of the Yangtze River, there were no waterways for boats, and no flat official roads for riding horses. In midsummer, the mountains were steep, miasma invaded, and bandits were rampant. How many Yunnan scholars died of illness and exhaustion?
, was killed by thieves on the way to the exam, do you know how powerful it is? Mr. Yang Ge said that there are not enough scholars in Guizhou, of course there are not enough! In every provincial examination, nearly half of the scholars from Guizhou cannot go to the Yunnan examination room smoothly!"
Wang Yuan glanced at the ministers and sneered: "If I had not used force against a hundred, I would not have the chance to speak here today, and I would have become a withered skeleton in the mountain roads of Guizhou! Do you think that all Guizhou scholars can fight with this force?"
Is one against a hundred? Then don’t take the civil service examination. It would be better to let all the scholars from Guizhou take the martial arts examination. I guarantee that I can kill the little Mongolian prince and not dare to go south!"
"Haha, what a wonderful statement!" The last two sentences made Zhu Houzhao laugh out loud.
Wang Yuan held the wat board in the posture of holding a sword and asked: "Who else objects? Let's debate with me!"
No one spoke.
Zhu Houzhao smiled and said: "In that case, Guizhou is allowed to start its own provincial examination."
Liu Chun, the Minister of Rites, reminded: "Your Majesty, if there is a provincial examination in Guizhou, there should be a special academic envoy, and Yunnan academic envoys can no longer serve concurrently. In addition, if the subject is opened separately, the number of candidates in Guizhou should also be increased."
Zhu Houzhao said: "It should be so."
This policy spread to Guizhou, and scholars across the province rejoiced and regarded Wang Yuan as a hero of Guizhou academic circles. After the first Guizhou academic envoy came to Guiyang, the first thing he did was to erect a monument to commemorate Wang Yuan's academic achievements.
His deeds must be engraved on him, otherwise this scholar would not be able to win the hearts of the local people.