Chapter 109: Guozijian, the eve of the great era

After several days of winter rain, no one expected the rising sun to shine so brightly.

This day is November 29 of the fifteenth year of Zhengde of the Ming Dynasty, and the fifteenth year of Zhengde is about to pass.

It was already very cold, but there was no snow, and the unusually hot autumn that had just passed was too late to carry the footsteps of this winter.

The winter rains have stopped, the sun has risen, but the expected fog has not appeared. Early in the morning, the weather was so clear that it made people feel a little uneasy.

An official in a big red python robe looked up at the evil sun in the sky, and couldn't help but shake his head without "touching" the long knife mark on his neck. Then he sighed and walked out of the Fengtian Gate quickly. The scar on his neck was surprisingly itchy from the rain, and it drove him mad with discomfort.

He still remembered the Mongolian knight who "shot" him in the neck, it was twenty years ago, and now that he thinks about it, it seems to have happened yesterday.

Seeing him come out of Fengtianmen, a person who looked like a small official who had been waiting here hurriedly ran up and said in a low voice, "I've seen Master Hou." ”

"Is that you?" The official gave him a startled look.

"It's Xiaguan, the prince asked me to come to visit the Hou Ye. Hearing that the injury on Hou Ye's neck has been healed recently, the prince was very relieved, and ordered his subordinates to send a lot of Korean ginseng bought from Liaodong to see if it could benefit Hou Ye's body. ”

"Lord Wang...... Hey. Since the Ming Dynasty Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang killed the heroes, more than 150 years, the battle of Jingyan and the bloody battle of Tumubao, until now, the noble and wealthy families at the time of the founding of the country have been swept away. The Guo family has miraculously survived so many years of ups and downs, and starting from Guo Ying, the Guo family has been married to the royal family for generations, and now it can be said that it is the first wealthy family in the dynasty.

"I'm old, and I'm a person who doesn't live a few days. is another prince of peace, the courtyard is cold on weekdays, is your prince so enthusiastic to take the door of Benhou, how can the old decay afford it. ”

The person who looked like a petty official was surnamed Shi, and he was an ordinary official in Taichang Temple. Hearing Guo Xun's ugly words, he was not angry, he only smiled flatteringly: "What did the Hou Ye say, who doesn't know that you are the number one celebrity in the dynasty, even if the old queen mother sees you, she has to be called Guo Hou." ”

Seeing that he spoke so respectfully, Guo Xun was very satisfied, and pointed in the direction of the palace: "The prince thinks about it day and night, doesn't he just want to know what the situation is inside?" ”

When the civil official surnamed Shi heard him mention the Zhengde Emperor in the palace, his face turned pale and said: "The prince of my family and the Son of Heaven were originally close brothers, and I heard that His Majesty was sick and bedridden in the water in the south of the Yangtze River, and he was worried. I want to ask if the dragon body is healthy in person, and I am afraid that His Majesty will blame me. Let the lower officials inquire about it, see what other good "medicine" the Son of Heaven needs, and collect some from the people and send them. ”

Guo Xun's sneer was even louder: "The Son of Heaven fell into the water in Jiangnan and suffered from the cold, but it was just a little sick, and it would be fine in a few days of cultivation, so you don't need to care so much." Besides, your prince is in Qingzhou. According to Ben Hou's knowledge, there are no good "medicine" materials in Qingzhou. The Son of Heaven is rich in the world, and he is not short of your things. ”

Guo Xun's name is Zhu Houxie, who is the grandson of Zhu Jianshensun of Ming Xianzong, and is now the king of Jianghua, and was established in Qingzhou, Shandong. is also a thick character generation, if it is really a generation, it can be regarded as the elder brother of Zhu Houzhao, the son of heaven in this dynasty, and he is the closest to the emperor among all the princes surnamed Zhu.

"That's, that's ......" The civil official surnamed Shi was almost speechless by Guo Xun's words, and only said: "Isn't this also worried about Your Majesty's body, Lord Wang!" ”

"Worried...... Hey...... He was a little worried. Guo Xun 'touched' his neck, and his heart was even more irritable, and he couldn't help but sigh secretly: The undercurrent is surging!

Since Emperor Zhengde suffered from the wind chill after falling into the water in Jiangnan, and after two months of recuperation, his health was very good, and he didn't have the heart to play in Jiangnan, and he was urged by Yang Shen and others, so he reluctantly drove back to Beijing.

Probably because of the tiring journey, after returning to Beijing, Emperor Zhengde's condition relapsed, and he had a high fever for more than 20 days in a row, and finally became bedridden. Although Zhengde is a naughty child, he is an energetic emperor, but as long as his body can hold on, he will not put political affairs aside and ignore them.

But his current body is too weak to go up to the court to see things.

I didn't go to court for more than 20 days in a row, which made the civil and military officials panic, and there was a feeling that the sky was about to fall.

Because of his noble status, Guo Xun had the opportunity to move around in the Great Interior, and he was one of the few confidants among the hundred officials who could enter the leopard room to meet the emperor. Therefore, in the past few days, there has been an endless stream of people who have come to the door to listen to the news, which has annoyed him.

Guo Xun is also a person who has been up and down in the sea for many years, how can he not know the thoughts of these people. He knew that the stakes were very high, and he did not dare to "mess" and say "chaos", so he ordered people to close the door of the house so that no one could be seen. But he went to the palace much more often than before.

Speaking of Zhu Houxi, the king of Jianghua, the last time they met was five years ago, at that time, he had just been crowned the king of the county and was about to go to Shandong to become a vassal domain, and Guo Xun also went to see him off at that time.

Guo Xun and Zhu Houxie were originally young, and they often played together when they were young, and their personal feelings were excellent.

Friendship can be friendship, in the face of the emperor's illness such a major issue of right and wrong, personal feelings are not so important.

Guo Xun understands what this old friend is thinking, this guy is already an ambitious person. If Zi is seriously ill today, it will be a question whether he can survive this winter. And Emperor Zhengde has no heirs, once he is in a big line, he can inherit the throne with his fingers, and the left and right are only those three or two thick-character princes.

Thinking of the situation when he saw Emperor Zhengde just now, Guo Xun's heart suddenly felt a chill. In the past, Emperor Zhengde was a young man of 1.80 meters and a strong body. can open a five-stone big bow, can eat two catties of rice, and can control six women at night. But such an emperor who was as strong as an ox collapsed into bed just because of a wind chill, and he was so thin that he only had a skeleton left. The height has also been shortened from 1.80 meters to 1.6 meters, and he looks like a half-grown child.

"Perhaps, it's time to think about the future." Guo Xun felt a stirring in his heart, and watched the expression of the civil official surnamed the teacher and relaxed. These, the old friend who was far away in Qingzhou did not treat himself badly, and sent a lot of silver to the door during the New Year's holidays.

As far as Guo Xun knew, among the officials of this dynasty, there were not a few people who had received benefits from King Jianghua, especially after Emperor Zhengde fell ill.

After a moment of silence, Guo Xun looked at the civil official surnamed Shi and said, "Go back and tell your prince that Your Majesty is already in good health." If you can get through this winter, you'll get better. If the snow doesn't fall for a long time, it will be wickedly cold this winter. ”

The civil official surnamed Shi smiled knowingly: "What Master Hou said is true, Your Majesty should be able to do well." I'm going to report to the prince and tell him not to worry. ”

Guo Xun nodded, and glanced up at the sun in the sky again.

At this moment, he saw half a rainbow across the Forbidden City.

Guo Xun's body trembled, and his face lost his blood: "White rainbow through the sun." ”

There was a rush of footsteps, and more than a dozen people who looked like eunuchs hurriedly ran over and shouted: "Marquis Wuding, the Queen Mother will pass you over to speak." ”

Speaking of which, Sun Dan and they set off from Zouping at the end of September. After arriving in Jinan, I stopped for a while, and when I arrived in Beijing, it was almost December.

The relocation of a large family is not a simple matter, and the affairs are complicated and complicated, needless to say.

The Sun family moved to Beijing for several years, and they had to send someone to repair the old house in Beijing, and then the ladies and sons could set off after the repairs were completed.

Because Sun Dan was a side child of the Sun family, he was left to the end.

That's fine, Sun Dan didn't get along well with Mrs. Liu and others. Taking a boat from Shandong to Beijing, stopping and stopping all the way, it will take more than half a month to say anything, and the thought of getting along with them for so long makes Sun Dan feel a headache.

Therefore, with such an arrangement, Sun Dan felt very comfortable. He was not in a hurry, so he traveled along the way with Zhiniang. Zhi Niang has never been far away, and everything on the road feels fresh.

In this way, when he arrived in Beijing, Sun Dan didn't bother to report to Sun's mansion, so he bought a two-entry courtyard not far from Guozijian to settle down.

This place is called Shibei Hutong, leaning on Shichahai, the place is spacious, and the scenery is excellent. Standing in the courtyard and looking up to the south, you can see the towering figure of Jingshan, and then turn to the northwest, which is the tall city tower of Deshengmen.

By the time everything was settled and the weather had completely cooled down, everyone had changed into thick winter clothes. Beijing was the capital of the Ming Dynasty and the largest metropolis in the world, with nearly 400,000 people in the city and more than 500,000 people in the suburbs. This is the largest city Sun Dan has ever seen since he came to the Ming Dynasty, and even a modern person is amazed by the scale of the city of Beijing. Not to mention a girl like Zhi Niang who came from a small place, she smiled and said to Sun Dan that she had never seen such a big city in her life, and she didn't expect that a city could fit so many people.

After resting in the city for a day, after regaining his strength, Sun Dan walked towards the Guozijian.

Speaking of which, the people who can enter the Guozijian are not ordinary people, at least, the inmates of the Guozijian have four taels of silver per month for tuition, which is much more generous than the six buckets per month. Therefore, in addition to the very good students, the children of the nobles can enter the study here.

Therefore, it can be known from the dress of the students in Guozi Prison that there is a big gap in the family background of the students here. Generally speaking, the kind of people who are gorgeously dressed and have an arrogant face must be the children of the nobles of the court. And those who are extremely shabby, but have patches on their bodies, are the prisoners selected from the local government.

There are not many ordinary people like Sun Dan who don't have much money and no background, and they can get by. There were more than 400 prisoners in total, and it was also a very large school in the Ming Dynasty. The strange thing is that there are not many managers, and there are only one person in total, two priests, one supervisor, and one master.

Sun Dan's first teacher, Li Meiting, is currently the supervisor of Guozijian, who is in charge of the atmosphere and education of the school, and is an official from the sixth grade, ranking fourth in Guozijian, and is a horn "color" similar to the dean of academic affairs in later generations.

Li Meiting's office was located in the west wing next to Yilun Hall, and the first thing Sun Dan did when he entered the Guozijian was to go there to meet his teacher.

The two haven't seen each other for a long time, and this encounter is naturally a big surprise.

Li Meiting also knew that Sun Dan refused to worship Yang Shen as a teacher and change the court, and he was very moved in his heart. But when he saw Sun Dan's face, he still reprimanded this proud protégé with a straight face: "You, you, I really don't know how to say you." can enter the Yang Gate, once you are lifted, even if you are on the Dragon Gate, it is really rare to be confused like you. ”

Sun Dan naturally refused to say this because he knew that the Yang family would be brutally attacked by Emperor Jiajing in the future, and if he really entered the Yang Gate, he would inevitably be implicated in the future. He only smiled and didn't explain.

After scolding Sun Dan a few words, Li Meiting said again: "Your family is poor, and if you can enter the national prison, you can get four taels of silver per month for tuition, which can be regarded as a good livelihood." However, you have already won the show, I have already looked for your test papers, Shiwen is getting more and more spicy, and it will naturally be easy to take the township test in the future. However, in addition to writing Bagu articles, I also have to ask questions and write official documents. Among them, especially the writing of official documents, many scholars were stunned as soon as they entered the examination room because they had never seen it before. ”

Sun Dan: "But this is the truth, the student entered the country this time, and he wanted to ask the teacher for advice in person. The teacher used to be a student in Shaanxi and should know the format of official documents. ”

"It's simple, too." When Li Meiting heard the students ask about this, he came to his senses and said: "As far as the official document system of our dynasty is concerned, it is roughly divided into several types: decrees, edicts, edicts, edicts, consultations, and petitions. It's too much, and you can't remember that much for a moment. ”

"Exactly, the students are going through the admission process so that they can listen to the teachings of the husband in person."

"Well, you haven't gone through the formalities yet, I'll register you now." Li Meiting took out the roster and filled in Sun Dan's name, and said, "However, even if you are on the flower list now, you can't study." ”

Sun Dan: "But I don't know why?" ”

Li Meiting stopped her pen and sighed: "It's not for the incident of Bai Hong's sunshine a few days ago. ”

Sun Dan hurriedly asked him what was going on, and he didn't know until he asked for a long time. It turned out that on the 29th of last month, the sky suddenly cleared, and a color suddenly appeared in the sky of the palace, which happened to run through the round of red sun in the sky.

Such an abnormal celestial phenomenon shook the government and the opposition, and the people of Beijing were panicked for a while. According to the rules, when encountering this kind of vision, all the teachers and students of Guozijian had to wear plain clothes to go to the Ministry of Rites and Taichang Temple for rescue. Guozijian was originally a quiet yamen, and there was nothing to do in normal times, and it belonged to a corner that was forgotten by people.

As is customary, because there is really no oil and water in this department, and no one wants to come over and be an official. Therefore, the sacrificial wine of the Guozijian is generally changed every three years. But this year's sacrificial wine just stayed in this position for five years and did not move. Probably because of Jing Ji's thoughts, Lord Xu didn't know that nerve was wrong on the day he went to the Ministry of Rites to ambulance, and shouted in public that this celestial phenomenon was caused by the king's loss and unauthorized use of swords. and took the prisoners of the national prison to jointly write a letter, asking the emperor to issue an edict against himself.

Supposedly, it's not a big deal. The civil officials of the Ming Dynasty were a group of people who dared to say and do, and their bones were hard. Besides, if Heaven sends down this evil sign, the king should come out and express it according to the rules.

Unexpectedly, as soon as this recital was presented, it somehow offended the Queen Mother.

Now it was lively, and the brocade guards rode out in all directions, and arrested the country's priest and two priests, and brought more than 30 prisoners to the prison to ask for the guilt. If nothing else, the priest and the priest will be dismissed from office, and the more than 30 prisoners will also be stripped of their merits and sent back to their hometowns to be under the control of the magistrate.

"Fortunately, the teacher was about to have dysentery that day, and he had to run his stomach twenty or thirty times in a day, and he couldn't go to the rescue, so he escaped by luck." Li Meiting smiled bitterly: "I am the only one who supports the current Guozijian, and there is no way to start classes at all, even if I have the heart to guide you, I don't have so much time." Jingyuan, even if you have the heart to study, I don't know if there is any other place to go, it really can't work, you might as well go to Yang Shen. ”

Sun Dan was shocked when he heard this, this rescue incident would be a trivial matter worth mentioning in the past, but the Queen Mother was so aggressive, it seemed that Emperor Zhengde would not succeed. The reason why the Queen Mother made such a thunderous means is to tell everyone that the emperor is doing well now, you all give me honesty, don't 'mess' and say 'messy'.

It seems that the city of Beijing is now on the eve of great changes.

From now until Jiajing succeeds to the throne in March next year, I don't know how many people will soar into the sky, and how many people will fall to the ground.

Being able to witness the advent of a great era made Sun Dan secretly a little excited, but he was still an inconspicuous little person, and what was about to happen in Beijing had nothing to do with him.

In fact, even if Guozijian can't do this, there is nothing to learn. For example, I come here to work only on Saturday every month, and after I come, I give students questions and look at papers. In order to cooperate with the sake festival, the average student is more serious on these days of the month. Usually it's just a mess of days, and discipline is very lax.

Now, the prison officials have been wiped out, and there is no need for this study until the new sacrificial wine comes to work. Of course, there are more than 100 poor prison students from other places who still live in the school building to study on their own and prepare for the autumn of the following year.

In this way, Sun Dan has to find another way to study in Beijing this time.

Sun Dan replied: "I have already rejected Xiao Yang's students, so naturally I can't be cheeky anymore." ”

Seeing Sun Dan's disappointed face, Li Meiting suddenly slapped her thigh: "Yes, Jingyuan, don't you want to be familiar with official writing." All the officials of Guozijian have been arrested and imprisoned, and now I am the only one left here to punch and kick, even an eight-armed Nazha is too busy. At this very time, Guozijian's teaching homework is not very important, the key is to maintain this situation. Among them, the most important part of the supervisor is the pawn room, which is responsible for the proofreading of the draft of the document, which is just right for your hot hand. ”

Sun Dan: "Teacher, this is not appropriate. Dian Bo is a seven-grade official, how can I go there with a white body? ”

Li Meiting laughed: "Sun Dan, you are too worried, I asked you to go there to be a bookstore, not to let you be an official." Your family is not good, although you have a few taels of silver to receive every month in the Guozijian, but if you go to the Dianbo Hall to be a small official, you can also receive a few more taels of silver. Wouldn't it be the best of both worlds to learn something and have an extra income? ”

Only then did Sun Dan know that Mr. Li was making himself an official, an official and an official, and there was a big difference between an official and an official in ancient times. To put it simply, an official is a formal civil servant who is admitted after passing the imperial examination, while an official is a supernumerary person hired by the government and does not account for the number of civil servants. Looking at the entire city of Beijing, it is estimated that there are tens of thousands of young officials without quality, and there are not many more grandchildren, and there are many fewer grandchildren.

In this way, it can be regarded as familiarizing yourself with the operation of officialdom in advance, and you can learn the writing of official documents of the organs, which is very beneficial to yourself.

Thinking of this, Sun Dan hurriedly took a long breath: "Thank you sir for that." ”

The next step is to formally register and get acquainted with the working and learning environment. In general, the Guozijian is divided into two parts: the office location of the Guozijian officials and the students' school. This is also known as "four halls and six halls".

The four halls are the office locations of faculty and staff: Yilun Hall, Jingyi Pavilion, East Wing, and West Wing.

Among them, the Yilun Hall is the office of the sacrificial wine and the priest, and the east and west rooms are the offices of the supervisor and the lord. As for Jingyi Pavilion, it is the location of the Dianbo Hall, and of course the functions of the communication room and the secretariat are in the center, that is, where Sun Dan is now a small official.

Because the bookkeeper was still eating prison meals in prison, the two clerks in the hall were flustered and had no heart to do things. Seeing Sun Dan coming to report, he knew that he was a student of Li Meiting, so he casually threw him a bunch of official documents and went home from work.

Bidding farewell to Li Meiting and coming out of the country, Sun Dan breathed a sigh of relief: Now I am also a person in the system. Now you can't see a few students in Guozijian, and the teacher has been arrested completely, but it is very quiet, which is only suitable for me to calm down and study.

It has been half a year since the Shandong Academy exam, and Sun Dan has been running "chaotically" between Jinan, Zouping and Beijing, if he does not calm down to study, he is afraid that his studies will be wasted.

got this opportunity, Sun Dan read the official documents in the pawn hall for two days, and learned to write two receipts, and the life was leisurely. Because it was the first time to write an official document, these two receipts were very jerky, and I felt very bad.

Because the officials of the Guozijian have not been released, the dragons have no leader, and it is not the assessment period every Saturday, so the students do not come to the school much.

On this day, Sun Dan had just arrived at the Dianbo Hall, and before he could sit down, a bookstore rushed to Sun Dan and said: "Brother Jingyuan, something is wrong, before you came, someone from Jinyiwei came over and arrested Mr. Li." ”

"Ah, is it because of the white rainbow a few days ago?"

"Yes, yes, that's it. It is said that a prisoner confessed that the memo was proposed by Mr. Li. The colleague couldn't stop squatting: "It's okay now, the country is empty." ”