When Wang Yuan arrived in Beijing, it was already the twenty-seventh day of the first lunar month. The journey took eighty-nine days, and there were only ten days left before the examination.
The east, west and north sides of the outer city wall of Beijing during the Zhengde period roughly coincided with the Second Ring Road of Beijing in later generations. As for the south side, it was only built to the Qianmen area in later generations, and the outer city wall further south was built in the Jiajing Dynasty.
Wang Yuan's first impression of the city of Beijing was the densely packed and chaotic residential buildings outside the south city wall. There was no systematic planning at all. The people settled outside the city spontaneously and built them one after another over the past hundred years.
Of course, since the population has increased and markets have been formed, officials must be appointed to manage them.
For those buildings that seriously disturb the city appearance or are prone to fires, the authorities will definitely carry out demolition.
Hubu Gongyuan is located in the southeast corner of Beijing. The surrounding private houses have been rented by scholars from all over the country.
Scholars from Nanzhili, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi and other places who were traveling on the same road rushed to seek refuge in fellow villagers' guild halls. They chose to rent private houses when they couldn't live in them. However, scholars from Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and other places had no guild halls to seek refuge in, so they honestly searched along the streets.
houses.
Since they needed to raise horses and donkeys, Wang Yuan, Jin Lei and Zou Mu all stayed in the inn.
This is a large-scale inn. Although it is located outside Beijing, it usually has a sufficient flow of customers. Because entering the city is the yamen of various ministries, many officials who go to Beijing for business choose to stay here, and there are also many businessmen coming and going.
Zhang Yun could not afford to live in a high-end hotel, and he was too embarrassed to ask Wang Yuan to support him anymore, so he found a private house outside the city.
In just the past two days, Zhang Yun shamelessly came to the inn to borrow money from Wang Yuan.
"What happened?" Wang Yuan asked.
Zhang Yun hesitated: "It's really...it's really hard to talk about it."
Wang Yuan said speechlessly: "Have you been defrauded of money?"
"Well," Zhang Yun said with a flushed face, "yesterday I went to a bookshop with my fellow Anhui student, who was staying in the same dormitory, to see if there were any good books. We met a young man in brocade, and he started chatting with us.
Knowing that we were both deputy-listed Gongsheng students, he said that he had connections in the Ministry of Household Affairs and could help us buy official posts."
"You still believe it?" Zou Mu said in surprise.
Zhang Yun said with a depressed look: "I didn't believe it at first, but he was sitting in a big blue sedan chair, and there were several healthy servants beside him, and those servants were all wearing silk robes. On the way, another Imperial College student came, Hua
Three hundred taels of silver bought the Huaiyuan County Magistrate. This man was very good at talking, and after chatting with us for half an hour, we had become close friends. He said that he was the nephew of Liu Zhong, the Minister of Civil Affairs, and he admired our talents very much.
If you give me some money, we can be arranged to be the county bookkeeper."
Wang Yuan, Jin Lei and Zou Mu looked at each other in shock, and even Zhou Chong and other followers almost laughed.
I don't blame Zhang Yun for being stupid and naive, I just blame the scammers in Beijing for being too professional.
The large blue cloth sedan was an official sedan. Not only did these scammers violate the rules of riding in the official sedan, they also dared to pretend to be family members of the Minister of Civil Affairs. In addition, actors joined in the process, pretending to be Imperial College students, and spent three hundred taels on the spot to buy an official position.
How had any scholar from Guizhou ever seen such a thing?
He was immediately deceived and confused, thinking that he was unlucky and actually made friends with the nephew of the Minister of Civil Affairs.
Wang Yuan suppressed his laughter and asked, "How much have you been deceived?"
"I was defrauded of all my money, leaving only two pieces of silver." Zhang Yun was dejected and could only seek comfort from others, "The Anhui scholar who was with me was even worse, he was defrauded of twenty taels of silver!
"
Zou Mu curiously asked: "How did you know you were cheated?"
Zhang Yun scratched his head and said: "After those scammers left, the bookstore owner blamed us. He said that he had been winking at us, and we were fooled into being deceived. We were really confused."
Wang Yuan thought for a while and asked, "Where is that bookstore?"
Zhang Yun pointed to the east and said: "Not far from Chongwen Gate, there is a Shizi Street, which specializes in pens, inks, paper and inkstones, books, calligraphy and paintings."
"Don't blame yourself, I'll help you get the money back," Wang Yuan comforted him, and then said to Jin Lei, "Brother Jin, please cooperate with us and put on a good show."
Jin Lei asked: "Why me?"
Wang Yuan smiled and said: "Because you are wearing a brocade robe, you look more like someone who has been taken advantage of."
With Jin Lei's character, he would not help, and he even felt that Zhang Yun deserved to be deceived. Who made Zhang Yun think of taking the wrong path? But at this moment Wang Yuan spoke, Jin Lei actually agreed and ran away honestly
Catching liars outside Chongwen Gate.
Moreover, Jin Lei took the initiative to buy a golden crown and a hosta, and even stopped wearing a scarf, just to look more like a victim.
The next day, Wang Yuan took Jin Lei out.
Zou Mu stayed to review his homework. After all, he only had a few days to take the exam, and he had no confidence that he would be able to pass the Jinshi exam. Zhang Yun didn't go out either, for fear of being recognized by the scammer, so he waited uneasily in the rented house.
Jin Lei was riding Wang Yuan's Shuixi horse. He was dressed very richly and was shaking a folding fan in his hand.
Wang Yuan and several book boys were responsible for playing the role of Jin Gongzi's entourage, and they were all dressed in silk and satin clothes.
They wandered around Shizi Street and gained nothing all morning. It is estimated that the scammer did not dare to show up for a short time. In any case, they bought a lot of things blindly and boasted to everyone that Mr. Jin was a deputy merit student and would definitely pass the exam this time.
Deputy Ranking Scholar!
…
Outside the east city, there is a private house.
Near noon, a young man dressed as a servant hurried to the courtyard: "Master Chu, we found a big fat sheep!"
"oh?"
Master Chu was exercising, so he put down the stone lock and asked, "What fat sheep?"
The boy smiled and said: "A young man dressed in gold and jade claims to be a deputy-ranking scholar from Yunnan. When he meets everyone, he boasts that he is knowledgeable and will definitely be a high school scholar. What do you think will be the use of him being a deputy-ranked scholar?
They are natives who have never seen the world. Everything they see is strange and they bought several scrolls of calligraphy and paintings this morning."
"Have you ever found a place to stay?" Master Chu asked.
"Liu San followed, and I'll come back to report the news." said the boy.
Not long after, Liu San, who was in charge of tracking, ran back and said with a smile: "Master Chu, that fat sheep lives in Longxing Hotel. I followed them into the guest room before coming back."
Mr. Chu thought for a moment and said: "This time, let the second child play the leading role, playing the role of a rich man who comes to Beijing to visit relatives. As for his identity, he is the nephew of a doctor in the Literary and Selection Department of the Ministry of Personnel. I will find an opportunity to contact the fat sheep this afternoon. If I can make a profit
If you have big votes, please don’t go to work this month, as the fat sheep will probably report you to the government.”
"Hey, these outsiders don't even know which way to open the Yamen." Liu San said with a smile.
These swindlers were called "city sticks" in the Ming Dynasty, and they were especially numerous in the capital.
Senior city officials also have temporary official status and are often subordinate to the book office.
If an official from the capital goes out, it is nothing more than calculating money and food, traveling and writing manuscripts. Scholars don't bother to do such chores themselves, so they have to temporarily hire scribes to accompany them.
Although these high-ranking city officials do not have official status, they are better at writing and calculating. Once they find out that an official is going to the capital for work, they will compete for the position through various methods and follow the official out of the capital in a swagger. When they get to the place, they will swindle money like crazy.
He even accepted bribes and helped others tamper with official information.
Ordinary city sticks often lurk in the capital. When they meet officials who come to Beijing for business, or deputy candidates who come to Beijing to take the exam, they set up a trap in groups to defraud. They often falsely claim that they are the family members of an official in the Ministry of Personnel and can help
People make arrangements and coax people into paying money foolishly.
Even if the victims realize that they have been deceived, they dare not speak out, let alone report it to the official. Because they have a reputation, and if this matter is spread out, their future will be ruined!
For example, Gao Gong, the chief minister of the Longqing Dynasty cabinet, had countless cheap nephews and cousins in the capital, which made Gao Gong's reputation very bad. He was so angry that Gao Gong personally went undercover to investigate, and arrested a lot of liars and sent them to the Ministry of Punishment for severe punishment.
Emperor Shangshu requested that the public security in the capital be rectified.
Zhang Yun was very lucky. He was set up just a few days after arriving in Beijing.