Hotels, guest rooms.

Zhou Chong was already sweating profusely, and he didn't do anything else today, just to welcome and receive gifts.

Even, Jin Wei's scholar was borrowed to help, because Zhou Chong was busy coming back alone.

As for communicating with those gift-giving guests, of course, Wang Yuan personally went out, anyway, he knew or didn't know, Wang Yuan treated each other with courtesy.

The evening finally stopped a little, and Zhou Chong came to report: "Second brother, I received a total of 460 taels of cash, and some other goods. Among them, the Jin merchant Xi family was the most generous, sending someone to send a hundred taels of silver, as well as a good inkstone. That Shouning Marquis Zhang Heling is really not a thing, we killed the thief and ran away, and kept a few big cars of property for him, but he didn't even send anyone to come over to congratulate him. ”

Wang Yuan wrote hard and asked, "Everyone who gave gifts has been recorded, right?" ”

"I remember it, I don't dare to make a mistake." Zhou Chong said with a smile.

Wang Yuan wrote dozens of letters, put them all in envelopes, handed them to Zhou Chong and said, "Tomorrow, please make a few trips, and reply to all the letters according to the gift list." In addition, all the goods are taken to the pawnshop, and the pawn ticket must be collected. ”

"Second brother, what are you going to do?" Zhou Chong was puzzled.

Wang Yuan didn't bother to explain: "You'll know in a few days." ”

What does Wang Yuan want to do?

Of course, it is to donate all the goods received, isn't there a town in Liangxiang County that was burned by thieves? Throw the money to the county magistrate of Liangxiang so that he can properly use it for refugee resettlement. The gift of gold and silver of the champion of the new department, forgive Nazhi County and dare not embezzle, because this silver is greedy and burns his hands.

Wang Yuan didn't dare to take it, just because his hands were hot. He knows that he has been named the champion and has offended many people, so for the sake of conservatism, it is better not to leave any handle - although this kind of receiving gifts is the norm, and even the officials are too lazy to care, who is an official who does not accept gifts?

After explaining the matter, Wang Yuan picked up the gift list again, and said curiously: "This Jin merchant surnamed Xi is too generous, and he actually gave me a hundred taels of silver for no reason." ”

"I don't know, I heard that it's a businessman from Puzhou." Zhou Chong said.

There are three wealthy merchants in Puzhou, Shanxi, one is the Wang family, the second is the Zhang family, and the third is the Xi family.

The Wang and Zhang families have a deep background, have produced many officials, and have married each other.

The Xi family has emerged in the past 20 years, and when it comes to floating wealth, it is even more than the Zhang and Wang families, but the children of the Xi family have not produced any big officials, and everything they do depends on silver to open the way. There are even special arrangements in the capital to give gifts to the first-class jinshi of each subject, and at the same time to give gifts to those Jishi.

If nothing else, it's just a good fate, maybe one day it will be used.

Not only did they send money to officials, but the Xi family also built bridges and paved roads in Puzhou to help the poor, and the social reputation was very good anyway.

As for what the real situation is, only the devil knows.

Xi Ming is recorded in the history books as follows: "At the beginning, I couldn't learn to raise my son, and I didn't like farming, so I said: My husband can't make meritorious contributions to the world, and he can't be a puppet of sweat grains, and he can't build a foundation at home!" So Wu Yue, Chu Wei, Pan Jianghu, retreat and relocate, start a huge amount of gold, and the Pu family will be called Nan Xiyun. ”

"Knock knock!"

There was a sudden knock on the door.

Wang Yuan put down the gift list and asked, "Who?" ”

The person outside the door said: "I am ordered by my master to come to congratulate the king of the current branch of the crown king." ”

Wang Yuan made a look, and Zhou Chong immediately went to open the door.

The person who came held a box and presented it to Wang Yuan with both hands: "It's just a small courtesy, it's not a respect, and I ask Zhuang Yuanlang to accept it." ”

Wang Yuan took it casually, opened the lid of the box, and saw that there were two layers of silver ingots lying there, each with twenty ingots of silver.

"Two hundred taels, such a big hand, I don't know who your master is?" Wang Yuan said with a playful smile.

The comer clasped his fists and said, "King Ning." ”

Of course, it was the rebellion against King Ning in history, from the sixth year of Zhengde to the ninth year of Zhengde, King Ning sent people to send a three-year gift in the capital. Cabinet officials, six bigwigs, key officials, and first-class jinshi in each department were almost all sent by King Ning, and it is said that they paid tens of thousands of gold in bribes before and after.

When Wang Yangming caught King Ning, he searched out the gift list of King Ning's mansion, and Yang Tinghe, the first assistant of the cabinet, was listed.

"I accepted the gift," Wang Yuan said with a smile, "and wait a minute, I'll send a letter back to King Ning." ”

The content of the letter is roughly as follows: "I have lived with King Ning Suwei, and I am terrified that I suddenly received such a big gift. The elders did not dare to resign, so I had the courage to accept the gift money. It just so happened that a village and town in Liangxiang County was burned down by thieves, and I now took it upon myself to donate the two hundred taels of silver sent by King Ning to the people who suffered from the war to rebuild their homes. ”

Wang Yuan directly handed over the letterhead, and after reading the letter on the spot, the visitor immediately couldn't cry or laugh, and said goodbye to Wang Yuan with a fist.

Wang Yuan wrote another letter to Gao Di, the magistrate of Liangxiang County, touting the Gao County Order, and saying that he had received a lot of gifts and did not know what to do, so he donated them to the refugees to rebuild their homes. After the town was rebuilt, he asked Gao County Commander to write an article and engrave the names of the givers on the stone tablets.

At that time, the name of King Ning will inevitably rank first in the inscription.

It was just perfect.

King Ning's gift, if you don't accept it, you can't do it.

The old Yin Bi mentioned before, that is, Fei Hong, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, was expected to be the king of Ning, so he resolutely refused to accept the gift. As a result, he was hated by King Ning and colluded with Qian Ning to remove him. On the way back to his hometown, King Ning raised troops to rebel, and Fei Hong ran to contact Wang Yangming to assist Wang Yangming in arresting King Ning.

Wang Yuan doesn't care, whoever gives gifts he will accept, and then donate them to the people, anyway, it won't go into his own pocket.

As soon as King Ning's people were sent away, Jin Wei came to knock on the door again.

"If you are false, there are some rumors in the capital, all about you." Jin Wei reminded.

Wang Yuan asked, "What do you say about me?" ”

Jin Wei said: "Lucky to be the champion." said that you won the favor of the emperor because of the murder of thieves, but in fact, you couldn't even get into the first class. ”

"Hahaha!"

Wang Yuan laughed three times: "If this is all Xingjin, then they will also kill the thief?" I won't stop you. As he spoke, Wang Yuan asked again, "Didn't you talk about my palace test article?" ”

"What did you write in your palace examination article?" Jin Wei asked rhetorically.

"Nothing, nonsense." Wang Yuan didn't talk about it.

That article seems dangerous, but it doesn't really matter at all. Who hasn't had the bloody fantasy of helping the common people, and who hasn't had the absurd articles of juvenile spirit? And at that time, as long as you didn't commit the taboo of the imperial court, you could write whatever you wanted, and no one would care!

In addition to the apportionment of the land, all the other contents in Wang Yuan's article have been proposed by the ministers of the DPRK and China, and even really put into practice.

Zhang Juzheng's whip method, the founder is named Gui Cao, and he became a jinshi with Wang Yuan this morning. During the Jiajing period, Gui Cao had already taken the lead in implementing a whip law despite the opposition of others, and he could still become an important minister in the cabinet?

Don't think that civil officials are all waste, even including Yang Tinghe, they actually want to reform bad governance, but they just don't dare to toss too much.

There are three real reasons why the graders collectively oppose Wang Yuan as the champion:

First, Wang Yuan's test article is not compliant. It should be expounded in a general and comprehensive way from the aspects of morality, history, etiquette, and righteousness, that is, the so-called view of the present from the past and from a high vantage point. Instead of discussing practical issues one by one like Wang Yuan, this kind of problem is not clear to scholars who have never been an official.

Second, Yang Shen's strategy essay is so well written, it is simply unreasonable not to be the champion.

Third, Zhu Houzhao was too excited, and he had to open the volume to find Wang Yuan's name. Combined with Zhu Houzhao's bad deeds in the past, the examiners were afraid that Wang Yuan would be included in the first class to enter the Hanlin Academy and become a fortunate minister by the emperor's side. The more Zhu Houzhao likes someone, the more they can't let this person enter the Hanlin Academy, which is a taboo for disrupting the order of officialdom!

The third reason seems incredible, but it is actually the most critical!

Zhu Houzhao is still only frantically promoting eunuchs and brocade guards, and of course the civil officials can't control it. If Wang Yuan enters the Hanlin Academy, he will inevitably be promoted by Zhu Houzhao, which is the emperor who has put his hand into the civil official system.

Once Wang Yuan is fortunate to succeed, there will inevitably be other civil officials who will follow suit, why don't the ministers want to strangle this kind of sign as soon as possible?

With Zhu Houzhao's Hu Lai, believe it or not, Wang Yuan may become a third-grade official in a few years. Anyway, the ministers are convinced of this, after all, Zhu Houzhao promoted thousands and hundreds of households in Jinyiwei, and they were all engaged in wholesale by dozens or hundreds of people.

Therefore, as long as Wang Yuan is not allowed to enter the first rank, and Wang Yuan is brushed off during the hall selection, then whatever Zhu Houzhao does. Even if Zhu Houzhao's brain is convulsive and he is promoted to Wang Yuan as a third-rank official in a year, it doesn't matter, if Hanlin does not enter the cabinet, it will not pose a substantial threat to the order of the imperial court.

The ministers are not guarding against Wang Yuan, but against the emperor!

It's just a new science and technology scholar, and he is not qualified to enter the sight of the important ministers.

This truth was understood by the examiners who were present that day, and Wang Yangming, who knew the truth, also understood.

After the Qionglin feast, Wang Yuan will go to thank the teacher. When the time comes, Wang Yangming will definitely give his disciples a guide and persuade Wang Yuan to find various opportunities to ask for release as a magistrate after entering the Hanlin Academy.

As long as Wang Yuan leaves the Central Committee and leaves Zhu Houzhao, the hostility of the ministers towards him will automatically disappear.