Chapter 38: The First Big Boss I've Encountered So Far
"Brother Shen is overly praised. My son has only been in the Imperial College for a month, so he donated his official position to take up the post. I really didn't have to teach him for long. He can go to high school only because of his family background and his extraordinary talent. How dare he take the credit of God and take it for himself."
Facing Shen Tingyang's sedan chair, Wu Weiye was embarrassed to be greedy for credit, so he quickly said a few words of thanks and resignation.
He is one of the "Three Jiangzuo Family", and he is the only one of the three Jiangzuo families in history who has not been a traitor, so he is quite shameless.
The Shen family is the richest man in Suzhou. He came to announce the good news today. If he didn't make his words clear, others would think he was here to get some money for the good news.
Sure enough, Shen Tingyang, who was opposite him, completely ignored his modesty and didn't listen to what Wu Weiye said, and directly asked Shen Shou to bring him a plate of Korean pearls:
"A good brother does not need to be humble. Time does not matter when teaching. There is no better father than a son. I have always known the original knowledge of a dog. He is what he is today. It must be the enlightenment of my good brother."
"How can this be done? Is it appropriate or not?" Wu Weiye was dumbfounded by the crowd and refused again and again.
He sincerely declined in his heart, but his fingers refused to obey him. It was as if he had suddenly contracted Parkinson's disease. His fingers were so curled and stiff that he could not loosen them from the edge of the pearl plate.
Although his eyes were clear, the natural reflection of pearls reflected a little bit of white light on his eyeballs.
"It's worthy! It's worthy!" Shen Tingyang took advantage of the situation and forced himself on, and finally succeeded.
Wu Weiye held the pearls in embarrassment for a long time, and then he remembered to ask the book boy to find a bag to put them in. At the same time, he thought to himself: You are just in a good mood, find a way to find a reason to spend money!
The richest man in Suzhou has a Jinshi in his family, so this is a sign of generosity.
After collecting them, the two of them sat down separately, and the maid served the Mingqiantou Longjing that had just been picked this spring.
Wu Weiye took a sip, and then had the opportunity to express his respect: "Brother Shen, I am here not just for the sake of our Imperial College to produce a second-class Jinshi. If it is just an ordinary academic achievement, we will not Came eagerly.
I hope you don't care about your son's rank. Although he is the last of the second class this time, there is a reason. I heard that when the emperor asked about the right, Wei Zaode and others flattered him, and he got the first place.
However, the young master was pragmatic, refused to follow others' influence, and was outspoken in admonition, so he was deposed to the last place in the second class. But in the heart of the younger brother, there is nothing wrong with this disciple even if he enters the first class! This is all due to the integrity of Brother Shen's family style and upbringing. .”
Shen Tingyang had been surprised enough today, but after hearing these words, he couldn't help but gasp a few times, and it took him a long time to calm down.
This point was not written in the letter home from his son!
After all, the purpose of Shen Shuren's letter was to let his father prepare relevant resources in advance so that he could use them when he came back to be a local magistrate. It was definitely to report good news rather than bad news.
As for my "why I only finished last in the second-tier class, when I could have been better", of course there is no need to write it down to make people feel regretful.
Thanks to him not writing, Shen Tingyang had an extra buffer period today. He received a piece of good news in the morning and another upgraded version of good news in the afternoon.
Otherwise, if everyone piles up, Shen Tingyang may have suffered from high blood pressure.
Shen Tingyang raised his eyebrows and said: "It turns out that there are still these twists and turns. His knowledge is not very good, but his character is like mine. I have been teaching him not to imitate those hypocrites and flattery. We, the Shen family, can say whatever they want. The officials can teach him When he compiled it for the Hanlin Academy, he probably took this aspect into consideration."
When he said this, his tone was extremely strong and angry. This is also the specialty of rich people. They don't need to flatter others in the first place. They are more "straightforward" and of course far better than poor scholars.
After Shen Tingyang finished speaking hard, it was Wu Weiye's turn to be shocked - the source of his news was an official notification from the court, which was sent five or six days earlier than Shen Shuren's family letter. It did not mention what Shen Shuren had been awarded. official position.
Therefore, he is far less knowledgeable than Shen Tingyang about the news about "Compilation by Hanlin Academy".
"Can someone who ranks at the bottom of the Second Class be assigned to the Hanlin Academy for compilation? It is a great kindness to be able to win a good scholar. It seems that there are still stubborn ministers in the court who are willing to give preferential treatment to the juniors who offend Yan Zhijian. Could it be Mr. Yang Ge? Entrusting people to overcome public opinion?" Wu Weiye analyzed with a breath of cold air.
The two of them complimented each other again, and it was nothing more than you saying that I have a good disciple, and I saying that you have a good son, and they were all harmonious.
After receiving Wu Weiye's report, the Shen family was no longer so timid in taking action, and the efficiency of the lanterns and decorations was significantly improved.
Shen Tingyang stayed with Wu Weiye to have banquets for several days, and also mentioned that he would go to Beijing to report on his work soon. If Wu Weiye had any words of encouragement to his proud disciples, he could help bring them to him.
…
With Shen Tingyang's pomp and efficiency, it was natural that everyone in Suzhou would soon know that his son was in high school.
The old butler Shen Xiang asked if he should have fun with his servants and subordinates.
Shen Tingyang was also very generous. With a stroke of his pen, he exempted all his four thousand tenant households from land rent this year. Nowadays, food prices are high, and this item alone is worth tens of thousands of taels of silver, which is enough to spend a lot of money.
As for the sailors who received wages from the Shen family, they were each rewarded with five taels of silver. There were one or two hundred ships and thousands of sailors, which added up to tens of thousands of taels. The rewards for servants and close associates were even greater.
Within two days, Zhang Xuezeng, the prefect of Suzhou, and the descendants of Mr. Xu Ge from Songjiang all came to celebrate. There were also many guests who came specially from Nanjing.
On Su Song's territory, Cao Zhende from Hedao Yamen did not come to join in the fun because he was from Zhu Dadian.
Shen Tingyang was very proud. From then on, no one questioned that their family "just had a few filthy rich people, and they even relied on buying their official positions."
During the celebration, Gu Yanwu, an old friend of Shen Shuren, also came to express his congratulations. Shen Tingyang knew Gu Yanwu's reputation as a scholar and received him very politely. Gu Yanwu also took out the letter Shen Shuren gave him, which invited him to work as a staff member in the capital.
After seeing it, Shen Tingyang immediately took it very seriously and said that he would also go to Beijing in the near future and would arrange the best speedboat to set off with Gu Yanwu.
Although his son was awarded a Jinshi title, Shen Tingyang still understood the merits of his knowledge and did not dare to let it slip. His son asked Gu Yanwu because he must have known that it was not easy to be a compiler in the Hanlin Academy and he needed to find a writer to be a gunman.
Shen Tingyang was willing to spend a lot of money to hire a master himself, and immediately offered Gu Yanwu a high salary of three hundred taels of silver per month. There were also benefits during the New Year, and if the performance was good, he would pay back the salary.
After some planning, we set sail northward.
…
Chen Shuren is in the capital and has not been idle these days.
On the one hand, he compiled the outlines of the political philosophy articles he was going to write day and night so that Gu Yanwu could start immediately after arriving in Beijing.
On the other hand, I went to Hanlin Academy every day to get acquainted with the environment, do some daily work, and by the way, I used my authority to check ancient books and understand the ideological tendencies of other "academic authorities in political philosophy" at that time.
By the way, I would like to deal with Chongzhen's frequent summons and answer questions about the shortcomings of water transport reform.
A month passed quickly, and Shen Shuren could clearly feel the increasing pressure from the environment - since he entered the Hanlin Academy, Wei Zaode, Gao Eryan and others had ridiculed him.
What he said is nothing more than "a person with the lowest rank in the second class can be regarded as a compilation, not even a commoner."
Officials under Zhu Dadian, the Governor of Water Transport, have recently raised more and more questions about the shortcomings of the water transport reform and the false accounts, and they need to see how this can be corrected.
Today is already the twelfth of April, which is also the day when Shen Tingyang and Gu Yanwu arrive in Beijing. When the master arrives in Tianjin, the Shen family's fast horse messenger disembarks from the ship to report the news, so that the young master can get the news one day in advance.
Chen Shuren also made preparations early. He took a day off, prepared his carriage and horses, and traveled sixty miles southeast of the capital to Tongzhou to meet him.
When father and son meet, red tape is still indispensable, but Shen Tingyang grabbed his son and asked him to exempt himself from the ceremony.
Chen Shuren greeted Gu Yanwu again: "Brother Gu, I know that you are an upright person, but I am unable to handle the errands of the Hanlin Academy, so I have to bother you in this secular place."
Gu Yanwu also looked upright: "You and I are close friends, why are you talking about this? I heard that you were remonstrating with His Majesty and refused to cater to His Majesty's great achievements. I respect your character, so I help you."
"I understand, how can I not know Brother Gu's character?" Shen Shuren did not pretend to be a rich man. He knew that Gu Yanwu's family was considered a wealthy family in Kunshan, and they were not short of money on a daily basis.
It's only three hundred taels a month, how can you win a great virtuous man by buying things? It cost three hundred taels a month for Chen Yuanyuan to sing.
Several people took carriages back to Beijing. Shen Shuren gave Gu Yanwu instructions along the way so that he could start work as soon as possible.
…
After returning to the capital, Shen Tingyang couldn't rest for long.
It only took him a day or two to adjust to the environment, and on the day of the court meeting on April 15th, he went to the court to meet the king. It was inconvenient to discuss detailed affairs in the court meeting, so Chongzhen left him in the palace to give a banquet, and then played the duel in the afternoon. Debrief.
Shen Shuren didn't need to attend originally, he was no longer the money and grain officer of the river.
However, Hanlin Compilation could also be transferred to the emperor's side to listen to and make imperial edicts at any time. Chongzhen considered that both his father and his son had handled this task and understood the situation, so he retained Shen Shuren to listen to him.
To put it bluntly, after his father finished reporting his duties, if the emperor needed to issue any decree, the emperor would dictate the general meaning and Chen Shuren would draft it.
Not to mention, this matter is quite challenging for Shen Shuren, because he has been working in the Imperial Academy for a month, mainly doing private work, and has not yet drafted an edict for the emperor.
Fortunately, he was mentally prepared for this. He secretly copied various essays a few days in advance, and privately consulted Gu Yanwu to discuss rhetoric together. For parts that Gu Yanwu had never seen before, Shen Shuren secretly consulted Ge Shizhen of the same year.
After the luncheon, Shen Tingyang went to the Wenhua Hall to meet with the emperor.
What he didn't expect was that he actually saw in the Wenhua Hall an important official who he hadn't seen for several years but who had always been a stumbling block for the Shen family - Governor of Water Transport Zhu Dadian.
Zhu Dadian's yamen was stationed in Huai'an, which was a long way away. He rarely went to Beijing to report on his duties. He had to first take the canal section between the Huanghuai River and the Huaihe River to Linqing, Shandong, and then cross the Yellow River from Linqing to Tongzhou.
Even if Shen Tingyang made a great contribution this time, he could only be a doctor in the Ministry of Household Affairs. There are also ministers and ministers above him. At least when he reaches the level of minister, he can compete with the governor-level officials in the border areas.
Now that he had to face Zhu Dadian directly, Shen Tingyang felt great pressure. Even if he did save money for the court and his accounts were clear, he was still very nervous.
Zhu Dadian dared to come to stop the attack in person, but he didn't know how much black material he had collected about the Shipping Faction in the past few days. Could it be that he wanted to conduct an "evidence attack" in front of the emperor and completely discredit the Shipping Faction in one go?
Thinking of this, Shen Tingyang felt a little bit frightened before he opened his mouth.
There was no way, what was supposed to come had to come, he had been preparing for this for several years.
Even Chen Shuren faced Zhu Dadian's pressure at the beginning of his time travel. Today, he either had to move away from this mountain and completely cut through the tangle of entangled grievances, or he stopped messing around.