August 15, Mid-Autumn Festival.

The festive atmosphere of this era is very strong, especially for officials in a "foreign land", they attach great importance to the Mid-Autumn Festival, even more solemn than the Spring Festival.

As night fell, the lantern festival of the Drum Tower in the north of the city was held as scheduled, and the mansions of officials in the south of the city were also brightly lit, and the thousands of houses in the entire city of Beijing depicted a scene of great peace and prosperity.

The same is true of the Wu Mansion located in Xiaoyongfang, where a festive red lantern is hung in front of the door, but the inside is brightly lit, and it seems to be a little more lively than before.

Whether it was Wu Huashou's family in the capital, or Lin Haoran as a son-in-law, or other relatives of the Wu family, they flocked to the Wu Mansion one after another.

A full moon hangs high in the sky, wisps of white moonlight like mercury, and the whole backyard is like daylight, illuminating the scenery here clearly.

In the gazebo, the stone table, exposed to the moonlight, is full of mooncakes, fruit plates, preserves and tea.

Wu Shan and Lin Haoran sat opposite each other, and Wu Huashou took the initiative to leave when he showed his face. After all, he is a businessman, and he has just talked to Wu Shan, but it is not good to continue to disturb the pair of Weng sons-in-law to talk about things.

Recently, the situation in the DPRK has been relatively stable, and all parties have appeared to be more restrained.

Even the most restless Yang Bo, when he learned that the Mongolian cavalry outside the pass was suddenly about to move, was already focusing on the military affairs of strengthening the defense.

As for the Xu Party and the Zhejiang Party, although there were some minor frictions between the two sides, they were still restrained, mainly reflected in the competition for official positions in the local governorship or salt administration system.

Wu Shan looked like he picked up the cup and took a sip of tea, but suddenly said: "There is a mountain behind the village, and it is green in four years; There are bamboos at the edge of the village, and a hundred knots add branches; There is a river in front of the village, and the cold and heat are not dry; The village is Mingjun, the lord of a thousand autumns, Jiajing! ”

Lin Haoran has been honed in officialdom for so many years, but when he heard these explicit words, his old face couldn't help but blush slightly.

These words were the answers to Jiajing's questions about the countryside when he won the championship in the past, and Changlin Village responded vividly and flatteringly.

Time flies, time flies. He is also from the little hot-blooded scholar in the past, after so many years of hard work, he has become the high-ranking and powerful left attendant of the Ministry of Rites in this dynasty.

Wu Shan didn't mean to laugh at Lin Haoran, but said seriously: "When I heard your remarks at the beginning of the year, I felt that you were too cunning, and I actually didn't like it in my heart. It's just that after a closer look, I found that you can summarize the style of your hometown so succinctly, and you must have the countryside in your heart, and the people should not be too bad! ”

Speaking of this, he glanced up at Lin Haoran, but Lin Haoran touched his nose in embarrassment. If he had chosen to hug Xu Jie's thigh, I am afraid that he would not be the person he is now.

Wu Shan looked at the blue and white lotus pattern on the teacup, raised his head and looked at Lin Haoran and asked, "Ruoyu, do you want to go back to your hometown now to take a look?" ”

Lin Haoran didn't have too much vigilance against Wu Shan, so he replied honestly: "My son-in-law occasionally dreams of his hometown, and he actually wants to go back to see it, but he also knows that he can't go back!" ”

Not to mention that Shicheng is thousands of miles away from the capital, and now he is already the left attendant of the Ministry of Rites, and he never thought that an official of his level would go home to visit his relatives by fraud.

The Ministry of Rites is the most idle of the six departments, but in fact, the affairs to be dealt with are also a thousand things, not to mention the triennial autumn and spring festivals, even the weekday celebrations and festivals are endless.

Lin Haoran now wants to return to Shicheng, either he is dismissed from office by the imperial court, or he "returns to his hometown", but neither of them is a good result.

"Yes, it's hard for you to go back!" Wu Shan put down the teacup with the blue and white lotus pattern and said with feeling: "I got to explore flowers in the fourteenth year of Jiajing, and I was thirty-five years old at the age of Chinese New Year's Eve, and I also took leave to return to my hometown that year. It's been nearly 30 years now, but I haven't been able to go back, and I've been an official in the capital! Everyone envies being a good official, but we don't know that our hearts are also bitter! ”

This bitter word seems to be sincere, and there is not the slightest hint of falsification.

Lin Haoran knew that this cheap father-in-law was not too obsessed with power, at least much more indifferent than Yan Song and Xu Jie, but he concluded bitterly: "People are in officialdom, and they can't help themselves!" ”

"People are in officialdom, and they can't help themselves, this is incisive!" Wu Shan glanced at Lin Haoran approvingly, ate a candied fruit, and then continued: "There is also a small river in front of my hometown, and the old man still remembers that every year when the rainstorm rains, the wooden bridge will always be flooded!" ”

"The one in front of my village is an arch bridge, so it won't flood the rice fields, but every time it floods, it floods the rice fields! Tiger Girl likes this kind of weather very much, because there will be a lot of fish running into the rice fields, and the water will be able to touch the fish in the fields after the water retreats! Lin Haoran's thoughts also returned to Changlin Village, and he accompanied Wu Shan to eat candied fruit and said with a smile.

Wu Shan found that Lin Haoran was very energetic when he talked about his sister, but he said quietly: "I heard that you were quite depressed back then, and once went up the mountain to chop wood to make a living?" ”

"Yes, life compels it! In the past, my sister and I lived a hard life, and I felt the poverty of ordinary people! Lin Haoran recalled those days and seemed quite touching.

Wu Shan picked up the teacup with the blue and white lotus pattern again, but said sharply: "It's not easy for you to come this way, but you are also the boss, so you have to think about it for your Lin family!" ”

"Our Lin family?" Lin Haoran's brows immediately furrowed, and he looked confused and raised his head.

Wu Shan took a sip of tea and emphasized to Lin Haoran seriously: "There are three unfilial pieties, and no queen is great!" ”

Lin Haoran became an official in high school at the age of seventeen, and now he is the left waiter of the Ministry of Rites, and has won a great official reputation, which can be described as a big winner in life.

It's just that by the standards of this era, Lin Haoran has a criticism: he still has no heirs.

If this kind of thing is placed in the future generations, a twenty-three-year-old young man without children is a normal thing, but it is already incompatible with today's Ming Dynasty, and it is a manifestation of unfilial piety.

Especially with his current official position, he can already be named a wife and a child, but because he has no heirs, he wasted this share of Long's grace in vain.

"I'll try!" Lin Haoran reached out and touched his nose, and responded with embarrassment.

Wu Shan seemed to be prepared, took out a prescription from his wide cuffs and said, "This is a prescription from Imperial Doctor Li, you can take it!" ”

Lin Haoran refused this matter from the bottom of his heart, but in the face of this father-in-law and teacher, he had to take the medicine and agree perfunctorily.

Things made him a little unexpected, he was urged to marry in his previous life, but in this life, he was born to someone.

In fact, it's not that he doesn't want to give birth, but he always feels that there is no need to worry about this matter, and he doesn't know what's going on, Wu Qiuyu and Hua Yingrong are always unable to conceive.

It's just that medicine in this era is not developed enough, and he is not sure if he is suffering from infertility or if he is just not pregnant yet.

Wu Shan thought that Lin Haoran was afraid, so he comforted and said: "You don't need to be too nervous, Yan Ge only had a son at thirty-three, and Yan Shifan also gave birth to Yan Shaoqing at thirty-three, you are still young now!" Speaking of this, he seemed to feel inappropriate, so he added: "Of course, this matter cannot be delayed, and having no heirs is the biggest unfilial piety!" ”

In fact, he didn't want to talk about this matter, but Lin Haoran's parents were no longer there, and his wife was blowing the wind on the pillow, so he had to go out in person.

"Son-in-law respects the teachings!" Lin Haoran lowered his head and was taught.

Wu Shan nodded lightly, but he no longer talked about this matter, but talked about the upcoming Shuntian Township Test.

After the setback of the reform of the feudal system, Lin Haoran still did not settle down, but he reformed the Shuntian Township test. It is not only reflected in the selection criteria of the chief examiner of the township examination, but also in the reform of the source of admitted students.

Since the Song Dynasty, the prisoners of Guozijian have been active on the stage of history, and they are also an important cradle of court officials.

The Ming Dynasty Guozijian was founded in the Ming Dynasty when Taizu first set Jinling, that is, it should be changed to Tianfu School for Guozixue, and later Zhu Yuanzhang built the capital in Nanjing, rebuilt the school building at the foot of Jiming Mountain, and changed the school to the prison, so it was called Guozijian.

In the Ming Dynasty, the prisoners were divided into four categories: the eunuchs, the tribute eunuchs, the shadow eunuchs, and the regular eunuchs.

Raising supervisors refers to those who participate in the Beijing Teachers Association and fail to vote in the examination, and then the Hanlin Academy selectively sends them to the Guozijian learners.

Tribute to the prison means to contribute talents to prison. At the beginning of Hongwu, it was stipulated that all the prefectures and counties in the world should pay tribute to one person to study in the country every year. Later, the quota was changed slightly, but because the standard of tribute students was vain, only those who had been eating for a long time were given priority, and it was often some older and uneducated people who were admitted to the prison to study, so the prisoners had poor grades. During the period of filial piety, in addition to the regular tribute in various prefectures and counties, one tribute was selected every three or five years, and those who were excellent in learning and doing were selected to pay tribute to the country to study in the country through examinations.

Yin Jian refers to the students who are the children of the third rank official or above or the children of the honorable relatives who are in prison to study.

Routine supervision refers to the fact that due to the shortage of prisoners or due to national affairs and insufficient financial use, the commoners have allowed their children to enter the prison to study after the government has paid for it, so it is also called the people's livelihood.

There are too many of these Guozi prison students who have not been screened by the children's examination, and their qualifications are also mixed. Among them, there are talented sons and bandits, and there are also some stupid people, and the overall quality is worrying.

Since the first year of Hongxi in the Ming Dynasty, the township examination was carried out by province to determine the number of admissions, and the imperial court in order to take care of some special groups, from the Ming Dynasty to adopt the method of listing the number of names, to give special care to these groups.

In the test papers of the Shuncheon Township Examination, there are specially compiled test papers with a dish number to distinguish the candidates of Beizhili and Guozijian, and the examiner will admit 35 people from the dish number test paper.

The number of students admitted to the Shuntian Township Examination is 135, which is much higher than the 75 in Guangdong, but 35 of them are actually reserved for the inmates of Guozijian.

With the "impostor", there is a similar effect, and students from all over the country are eager to enter the Guozijian, which is reflected in the preferential treatment they give to participate in the Liangjing Township Examination.

In the same way, the examinee of Guozijian is essentially an internal examination of Guozijian.

Although they followed the students of Beizhili to take the same examination in the Shuntian Gongyuan, the standard line for admission was completely different, and there was an unfair phenomenon of imperial examinations.

However, there are always gains and losses, and those who have passed the Guozi invigilation examination have always been looked down upon, and they will be rejected and suppressed by officials when they enter the official career.

It's just that this is an unfair imperial examination phenomenon after all, but it is strongly opposed by scholars all over the world, and there will be some opposition voices in the two capitals every time there is a big competition.

In fact, Beijing is better, and the opposition of the Nanjing scholars will be more intense, and even every time the year of Dabi, they will get together to write a petition to the imperial court.

In the previous township test competition, the competition of Yingtian township test can be described as fierce.

Because they are in the rich land of the Ming Dynasty, the number of students who can participate in the township examination is already higher than that of those who deviate from the province, and they can naturally easily trample the vast majority of the prisoners of Nanjing Guozijian under their feet.

However, it is precisely because of the preferential treatment of the imperial court to the prisoners of the country that many prisoners below them have been promoted, and the call for the abolition of this privilege has become increasingly loud among the scholars.

Although Lin Haoran had experienced the setbacks of the clan regulations, he still wanted to do more for this decaying dynasty.

When Gao Gong was not in the Ministry of Rites, Wailang Longchi, a member of the Ministry of Rites, threw out a proposal, and then did Li Chunfang's ideological work, and finally sent the plan directly to the cabinet.

When the plan arrived in the cabinet, Xu Jie's status as a person from Nanzhili was hindered, but it was difficult for him to stand up and oppose it, and finally chose to hand it over to the second assistant Yuan Wei to deal with.

Although Yuan Wei did not involve the interests of his hometown, he was a high-minded and arrogant person, and he did not like this unfair imperial examination, so the plan was successfully passed by the cabinet.

Jiajing concentrated on cultivating Xuan, and seemed to be not concerned about this kind of thing at all, even if he agreed to this proposal, he directly agreed to this reform proposal.

Knowing that their prisoners were deprived of their privileges, the Guozi prisoners of the two capitals naturally objected. It's just that most of the prisoners who jumped out to oppose it were people with mediocre standards, and they still had to face the obstruction of scholars from the two capitals, but they were powerless to change the new rules of the imperial court.

It is precisely because of this that this Shuntianxiang exam is different from the past, and the privileges of Guozijian are exempted, and they are allowed to compete with the candidates of Shuntianfu.

As the night deepened, the full moon hung high in the sky.

Wu Shan finally advised: "The old man knows what you want to do, but now many people actually want you to plant a big fight, as long as you do things, you will inevitably make mistakes, and your master is planted here!" Now I can still take care of you in the court, but I will retire after all, you have to learn to cultivate obscurity, and learn more about Xu Huating's way of being an official! However, you will be successful in the future, and you must not forget the original intention of cultivating Qi and Zhiping today, and you must ask for the people's lives as you do now! ”

"The son-in-law will not dare to forget!" Lin Haoran assured Wu Shan for a long time.

Wu Shan was a little sleepy, so he got up and left.

Lin Haoran did not stay, and left the Wu Mansion by moonlight.

The time of the Shuncheon Township Examination is scheduled for August 20 after the Mid-Autumn Festival, and it will be held in Shuncheon Gongyuan as scheduled.