A quarter of an hour later, Mara was finally "coerced" by Geng Zhaozhong, the master of the horse, and walked the journey that originally only took half an hour, and came to the gate of Ji Kaisheng's mansion in the middle of the military department.

Along the way, Geng Zhaozhong asked long and short questions, but how could Mara tell him? I had to excuse that Lord Ji Kaisheng was in charge of some cumbersome affairs recently, and he was ordered to be the same as Lord Baylor. Lord Belle thanked Mr. Ji for his hard work, and specially let himself visit him to show his comfort. But Mara didn't say a word about the old gentleman.

Mara knocked on the door of the door first, handing over the red name she had written in Haode[2]. Geng Zhaozhong started suddenly, so naturally he did not make such preparations. Mara was about to explain to the porter that this was the Dora Forehead, but the little pony of the strange elf came to say:

"Brother Mara, lend me the name card!"

The old man in his fifties, dressed plainly, and with a charitable appearance, was very surprised to hear that the young magnate had asked for someone else's name, but when he saw that Mara had not objected, he respectfully handed it over.

I saw Mara's name card seven inches long and three inches wide, with a bright red background, and it said, "On the hibiscus of Naramara, please pay homage to the right of the military department to the lord in the matter." On the eighth day of the ninth month of the twelfth year of Shunzhi". Among them, the four characters of "Naramara" are written very strongly, and the rest are fly-headed small letters.

"Does the old man have pen and ink?" Geng Zhaozhong asked modestly.

"Yes, yes, son, please!" When the porter heard that he was called an old man, he was very useful, so he hurriedly picked up a brush on the bookcase and handed it over.

"Thank you, old man." Geng Jingzhong's kind attitude not only moved the porter, but also surprised Mara. Although the two are counted as colleagues, there are not many opportunities for real contact, in the final analysis, it is because of his grandfather's suicide in fear of sin, which casts a shadow on the entire family, and everyone is a little evasive. Observing so closely today, this Geng Zhaozhong seems to be really quite self-contained.

"Brother Mara, offended!" As he spoke, Geng Zhaozhong took the pen to the left of Naramala's big name and added a few Chinese characters of different sizes: "Carry, Geng Zhaozhong", of which the word "carry" is a fly's head, but the three characters "Geng Zhaozhong" look bigger than Mara's name!

"Forehead, this can't be helped!" Mara hurried to stop. You know, when you write on the name card, the bigger the name, the more it means that you are in a low position, and when the new recruits are bigger than your name, this is a high promotion of Mara! Besides, he still used the word "carry", and put himself, the dignified Qing Duoluo's forehead, and put it in a low position!

"Can't do it? Anyway, you brought a door sticker, and I wrote it down, so if you can't help it, we two brothers will go back! Geng Zhaozhong was about to walk out with the door sticker, but before Mara could speak, the porter stopped him with a smile:

"Childe is not in a hurry, how can you not do it? My lord is the most thrifty and pragmatic, so it shows the kindness of the two nobles, isn't it? ”

"The old man is right, then you have to work!" Geng Zhao was full of pride, but he did not forget his predecessors to hug their fists and salute.

"It's easy to say, please wait a while." After speaking, the porter hurriedly left the two of them and went to the front yard by himself.

"Thy thou, thou wilt ......" Mara wanted to say something to blame him for not being able to speak, but she didn't know where to say it, how to say it!

"Brother Mara, you relax, make sure that our masters can do this errand right today, you can take a look" Geng Zhaozhong looked like a mouthful of Beijing films, looking left and right, he was obviously "reading Yang'er" (Beijing vernacular, there is nothing to say, euphemistically expressing his wishes and requests), for fear that Mara will really pull down his face and not take him to play.

"Alas, it's okay, forehead, if you can get in in a while, you can take care of your brother!" Mara had no choice but to follow the trend.

"Call brother!" As soon as Geng Zhaozhong saw that Mara had softened, he immediately changed back to the state of the little demon king of the mixed world, and changed to a dead and disclosed appearance.

I endure! With the great responsibility on her shoulders, coupled with the royal relatives in front of her, she chose to shrink into the sand and turn a blind eye.

After a while, under the greeting of Ji Kaisheng, who came in a hurry, the two successfully entered the Ji Mansion, which was not a small courtyard.

When he heard the official Ji Fu's message about Mara's visit, Ji Kaisheng was accompanying Tan Qian in the study to fiddle with the new scrolls that had just been acquired, and he was just about to serve the old gentleman to enter the painting, and when he heard that Mara was coming, he knew that it must be appointed by the little Belle Ye. was about to persuade Tan Qian to go to the gate with him to greet him, but he heard that Tan Qian began to talk to himself again:

"The inner guards say goodbye, Lord Ji can do business in the front hall, and you don't have to take care of the old man. How about talking about someone concentrating on calligraphy and painting here, and waiting for Lord Ji to come back and evaluate it together? ”

"This ......" Ji Kaisheng originally wanted to say that Mara was the guard of the second son of the emperor, and he would not come for no reason, it must be Xuan Ye who had something to tell him. was just about to persuade each other to greet him, but was stopped by Ji Fu.

"Master, Master Mara's name card is a little peculiar...... Ji Fu picked up the red paper from the table and said with a smile as he fiddled with it.

"How peculiar?" Ji Kaisheng was sorting out his clothes and hats and didn't look back.

"He actually 'brought' the new entrant to come to the court, hehe, is it that the Manchurian martial arts are so ignorant ......" Ji Fu must have guessed that Mara didn't understand etiquette.

"Radio! Don't talk nonsense! Ji Kaisheng hurriedly turned around and whispered. You know, the old man on the side is a self-proclaimed "Jiangzuo remnant", and he was originally very disdainful and dissatisfied with those Manchurians entering the Central Plains, and at this time, he was just moved by the sincerity and knowledge of Master Xuanye, so he agreed to join the Academy of National History as an idle editor.

"Yes!" Only then did Ji Fu realize that he had lost his words, and hurriedly bowed his head to admit his mistake.

"Hehe, Master Ji go get busy." Thankfully, the old man didn't use the topic to play, and was still fiddling with the four treasures of the study.

"Show me!" Ji Kaisheng stretched out his hand to ask for the piece of paper, took it and read it carefully.

Looking at the name post, the words "Carry - Geng Zhaozhong" are indeed inconsistent with the convention and are very dazzling.

"Hehe, the font power of the name of this Dora forehead is very different from that of Mara's guards, and it must have been added by the second son of King Geng." Ji Kaisheng was talking to himself, but he analyzed it for Tan Qian and Ji Fu.

"However, when it comes to calligraphy, this big inner guard is indeed not as good as our big clear forehead, hehe. Take it and put it away. This sentence obviously echoes the meaning of Ji Fu's ridicule and ridicule of Mara just now, but it is also really pertinent, and it has played a great role in comforting and encouraging the official Ji Fu who has just been reprimanded. At the same time, it can also be regarded as a small friendship between morality and Tan Qian, who looks down on barbarians.

It's strange to say, since he had a close relationship with Daqing Dorobelle Xuanye, Ji Fu obviously felt that his master was now more and more kind to several subordinates, including himself, and rarely reprimanded and never scolded. At the beginning, five or six family members were anxious, afraid of change, but after a period of time, they found that this change was real and natural, and the master had no other plans, so he thanked heaven and earth for his favor, and gradually became at ease, but he also served Ji Kaisheng's family more wholeheartedly. Even Mr. Tan Qian, who has been staying here for the past few days, can see that Ji Kaisheng treats people leniently, especially his subordinates, and praises him very much as "a corporal with good manners and a common man".

Ji Kaisheng picked up the two visitors at the gate, and after saluting each other, they went to the living room to sit down.

Ji Kaisheng didn't know Geng Zhaozhong's purpose for coming, so he didn't go straight to the point and ask the master what he meant, but started with politeness.

"The forehead deigns to be the master, come to the cold house, the lower officials really dare not be the official!"

"Master Ji doesn't need to be polite! According to the regulations of this dynasty, the forehead is not allowed to privately communicate with the important ministers of the court, and Lord Ji must no longer claim to be an official. Besides, Brother Mara and I are here on business. Geng Zhaozhong clasped his fists and saluted, very openly.

In the first half of the sentence, Ji Kaisheng agreed very much, and he was also relieved. It is true that there is a Qing generation, as a "concubine" at all levels of the forehead is actually really having a hard time, not only can not make friends with the court officials outside, in case the imperial family interferes in politics, even at home, it is also a low status, from this point of view, the surface of the Qing Dynasty is actually bitter and self-aware [3]. He didn't let himself claim to be a subordinate official, which meant that he didn't take out the signboard of his Doro's forehead, which saved him a lot of trouble.

But for the second half of Geng Zhaozhong's sentence, Ji Kaisheng was taken aback: When did Geng Zhaozhong, the second son of King Jingnan, actually "go on a business trip" with Master Xuanye's guards? Why have you never heard of Lord Belle talk about it?

"I wonder what the two adults have to do? The subordinate officer received the order. Ji Kaisheng stood up as if he was on business. At the same time, his eyes glanced at Mara, and there was a hint of anger hidden in him.

Originally, as an "important member" of Xuan Ye's "Chinese Studies and Western Studies" "Writing Group", he Ji Kaisheng and the second son of the emperor who are now infinitely beautiful have half of the teacher-student relationship in it, to put it bluntly, they look like monarchs and ministers. And Mara, as a royal guard, is actually still a domestic servant, don't look at the dignified four grades, three levels higher than the "right to give things" from the fifth grade, but when it comes to publicity, the positions of courtiers and ministers are obvious.

Mara stood up from her seat suddenly, very annoyed that she had been confused for a moment in Songzhu Zhai just now, and agreed to the unreasonable request of the Lord.

"Master Ji, it was Lord Belle who asked me to come to you and ask for a book, saying that it was related to a treatise you were compiling." Mara was in a hurry, so she made up some random arrangements, and secretly wondered if that little skill had explained to her a lot of anecdotes about the little master Xuanye in the past few days.

"Oh, I see." Ji Kaisheng pretended to be calm. I was just about to turn around and sit down, but I seemed to think of something, so I deliberately asked:

"Did Lord Belle ever talk about what book it was?"

"This ......" Mara Manchu can't even recognize it, not to mention the vast Chinese classics, which can only be dumbfounded.

"Hehe, Master Mara must have forgotten. It's okay for you to follow me to the study, and I'll tell you a few titles, and you'll remember them. Ji Kaisheng said it soundingly.

"I ......" Mara didn't understand for a moment, still stunned.

"I said Brother Ma, Lord Ji meant to let you listen to the names of those books, so that when you hear the familiar titles, it is naturally the book that Lord Belle talked about with you? I guess you haven't read any classics on weekdays, that's fine, and if you hear déjà vu, that's it! Although Geng Zhaozhong on the side was young, he was holding a teacup at the moment and "taught" Mara.

"What you say is true! Xiaguan's little trick is really unbearable in front of you. Thank you for your help! Then you ......" Ji Kaisheng flattered, and was ready to pull Mara to the back to talk secretly.

"Master Ji is polite. The two of you, please, Zhaozhong will wait here for a while. When a boy is a newcomer, he naturally can't enter the adult's 'cabinet[4]', and he knows people's hearts as time goes by. In the future, if Lord Belle sends him, the kid is still willing to saddle the horse and accompany Brother Ma and Master Ji on a 'business trip'. Even if I sit here and wait for the two of you, I'm more than happy to do it. Geng Zhaozhong didn't mind, but he meant it.

"Thank you for your kindness!" Ji Kaisheng listened, but he minded very much. The word "cabinet" of Geng Zhaozhong just now, although it was borrowed from the former Ming official office for ridicule, does it imply that he has noticed that a small circle is being formed around Lord Baylor Xuanye? And as a close friend of the master, he is the same as entering the "cabinet" of the former Ming Dynasty?

Besides, behind this forehead is the king of Jingnan who is far away in the "rock frontier"! Master Xuanye's prestige seems to have been out of the capital and smelled of it all over the world. This seemingly frivolous ridicule, is it conveying some kind of message about his Geng Wang family? Thinking deeper, the King of Jingnan is in the lineage, and behind it are other vassal kings, and they have their own line...... If so, is it a blessing or a curse......

Ji Kaisheng's thoughts came to this, and he hurriedly gathered it and pulled Mara to the back house.

[1] In the six sections, the Ming and Qing dynasties "admonished and supervised" the official titles. Originated from the giving of things, the so-called "giving of things", for giving things in the court. Because it is divided into six departments, it is called six departments in the matter. The Six Branches, one of the central institutions of the ancient Chinese imperial court, are the Officials Section, the Household Section, the Rite Section, the Military Section, the Criminal Department and the Engineering Section. In the Ming Dynasty, it was a checks and balances for supervising and restricting the ministries of officials, households, rites, soldiers, criminals, and works. In the sixth year of Hongwu (1373), the province of Menxia set up 12 members in the ministry, which were divided into six sections: officials, households, rites, soldiers, criminals, and workers. In the thirteenth year, only six departments were left in the province, and the Hanlin Academy was appointed as a superintendent, and it was changed to the General Political Division. Six departments added the Academy, set up one on the left and right, two on the left and right, and later changed the name to Yuanshi, and then called Shiyuan, or increased to eighty-one. Twenty-four years later, six subjects were given the rank in the matter. Each subject is given to one person in the matter. Positive eight products. Left and right to the two of them from the eight products. Hanlin Academy, some of them were designated to be trained as the six branches of the matter, these people are called the six branches of the Jishi, it can be seen that Ming Taizu attaches great importance to it. Hongwu 33 years customized, each of the six departments is set up to one person in the matter, for the positive seven products; Give things from the seven products. The duties of the six departments are to "take charge of the attendants, admonish, make up for the que, pick up the relics, and inspect the affairs of the six departments and hundreds of departments", and they should be reviewed in the matter to see if there is anything wrong with it. If found, it can be sealed and reported.

At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the Ming system was followed, and it was also placed in the matter, and there was no post limit. At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, along the Ming system, the six departments were independent institutions, and each of the six departments set up a palm print to give 1 person to each of the Manchus and Hans, and 1 person to each of the Manchus and Hans, and the rank was five products. In the eighteenth year of Shunzhi (1661), the capital, left and right were set up in the matter, and there was one member of the full and Han people, and the full staff was the fourth product, and the Han member was the seventh product; He also set up two members of the Han to the matter, and he was seven products. During the Kangxi period, the capital was changed to the palm print to the matter, and one member of the Manchu and Han dynasties was all positive seven products; In the matter, one member of the Manchu and one Han is also the seventh grade. At the beginning of Yongzheng, in order to strengthen the imperial power, the six departments were merged into the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and official positions such as the middle of the matter and the pen post were set up. Together with the supervision of the imperial history, it is called "Kedao", and it is the same as the official, and there is a presence of entering the palace to admonish, copying and issuing the inscription, reviewing the chapter, supervising the six departments, the temples, the government, and the official affairs of the supervisors. In the seventh year of Yongzheng, it was promoted to the fifth grade. In the thirty-second year of Guangxu (1906), the official system was reformed, and the provincial six departments were only set up for twenty people, who were still subordinate to the Metropolitan Procuratorate and were in charge of the original six official affairs. This institution is small in rank and weighted. This is especially true of the right of refusal. In the 1910s, after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the institution was abolished.

The six ministries are the administrative executive organs, while the six sections are the supervisory organs. In terms of administrative power, the six departments are larger than the six departments, and the six departments are only a seven-grade official in the matter, while the six books are from the first grade, and the administrative power is almost all in the hands of the six departments. In terms of legal supervision, the six departments are larger than the six departments, and the six departments are set up to supervise the six departments, with the responsibility of "inspecting the affairs of the six departments and hundreds of departments", and all the emperor's edicts must be copied out by the classification of the six departments and handed over to the six departments and other organs for implementation; The implementation of major decrees must also be reported to the emperor in the sixth section. If there is a mistake in the performance of the six departments and the execution of government affairs, the six departments have the right to refute and report to the emperor. Even for the holy decrees that have been issued, the six departments have the right to "seal and return the performance".

[2] Famous post, the business card of the ancients. The "name post" of the Ming Dynasty is rectangular, generally seven inches long and three inches wide, and the name of the person who delivers the post should be written all over the post. If you hand a post to an elderly person or a superior, the name written on the "name post" should be large, the name on the "name post" should be large, the name on the "name post" should be considered humble, and the name on the "name post" will be regarded as arrogance.

[3] There was a Qing generation, and the Qing Dynasty's horse Manchu language was called "forehead". The princess is divided into several grades according to the grade of the princess (note: the princess can not be used to marry, only "Shang") princess, the princess of Shang Gulun (born by the queen) is called Gulun Eju, the princess Shang Helun (born by the princess) is called Heshuo E, and the Shang Gege is called Gege Edon. These grades are all contained in the Qing Huidian Zongrenfu.

As a concubine, he is nominally noble enough, but in terms of family relationships, he is really not as favored as the folk uncle. First of all, nominally, the marriage of the daughter of the Son of Heaven cannot be called a marriage but a marriage, and for the forehead, it cannot be called a wife and a lord, which has clearly reflected the feudal hierarchy. The princess's title is roughly equivalent to the prince's level, while the concubine is only Bei Zigong, and her status is inferior to that of the princess. Of course, if we talk about glory and wealth, the life of the forehead is comparable to that of ordinary people, the ancients said that the wife is more expensive than the husband, but here the husband is proud of the wife.

According to the etiquette system of the Qing Dynasty, if the princess can keep the festival for her wife and will not continue for the rest of her life, the rank and treatment will remain unchanged for life and can be used to cover the children and grandchildren. If a horse is intolerant of widowhood and marries another wife, he shall be immediately removed from his rank and shall have all his property such as houses, property, jewels, slaves, cattle and horses confiscated from the royal family. However, concurrences are not the case. Here, the feudal society required women to be imposed on men from the beginning to the end.

After the princess gets married, she can't live in the house for a long time, and must be built in a mansion by the royal family, which is called the princess's garden, and can't be called the princess's house, because the horse only has the right to live in the mansion and has no ownership. If the horse dies first, then this house is the princess's retirement place, and after the princess's death, the princess's descendants will be returned to the Qing court, and the descendants will move to another place and have no right to enjoy this house. If the princess is the first to die, after the filial piety is fulfilled, the palace and the garden must also be returned to the Qing court, and I retire to the original house, only the land and property can continue to be enjoyed, and the name of the forehead remains unchanged, but this also means that it will not be renewed. Therefore, when the princess was alive, the horses had no worries about food and clothing, and once the princess died, she felt embarrassed in all aspects.

The situation of the forehead and the princess in life, as the folk proverb says, go to bed husband and wife, and get out of bed with the monarch and minister. Therefore, the life of husband and wife is also confined to the feudal hierarchy and is not happy. Most of the time, the horse could not live in the same room with the princess, but set up another room outside the door to live alone, and every morning and evening he had to dress up and go to the curtain under the steps of the princess's residence to greet the princess. The princess ordered to enter, and the eunuch or mother (maid) sent a message: "Please come in, the princess". Only the horses dare to obey. If there is a message from inside the curtain, "Please get up", the horse will turn around and retreat, not daring to trespass.

According to the etiquette system of the Qing Dynasty, the princess and the forehead were not allowed to eat and drink at the same table. After the princess was born, she was not buried in the horse Zuqi, nor could she be buried with the horse, but the official land allocated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs to rebuild the princess's tomb, so in the old days, there were red princess tombs in the suburbs of Beijing.

All of the above is in terms of the princess marrying the Manchu bannerman. In order to Huairou Mongolia and other ethnic minorities, the Qing court also implemented the marriage system and married the princess to the Mongolian prince. The forehead is divided into two kinds of garrison in Beijing and with the flag, with the flag forehead is that some princes concurrently serve as the head of the alliance or the flag Zasak (flag chief), can not stay in Beijing for a long time, after the full moon of marriage, the princess will return to Mongolia with the forehead to live, called with the flag. However, the Qing court also built a princess's mansion in Beijing to prepare for the princess to return to Beijing.

If the prince does not have major responsibilities in the territory, he will live with the princess in Beijing for a long time, and he will be called the Resident Ebu in Beijing. However, the mansion is not called the princess's mansion but the royal mansion, because Mongolia is a vassal and its status is above the princess. However, in fact, the Qing court's treatment of Mongolian foreheads was far inferior to that of Manchu foreheads, and the income was less than 1/3 of that of Manchu foreheads.

[4] Cabinet, Ming and Qing Dynasty top officials. In the thirteenth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1380 AD), Zhu Yuanzhang, in order to strengthen the centralization of power, abolished the prime minister, dismissed Zhongshu Province, and set up "four auxiliary officials", and soon resigned. In the fifteenth year (1382 AD), imitating the system of the Song Dynasty, the Huagai Palace, the Jinshen Palace, the Wuying Palace, the Wenyuan Pavilion, the East Pavilion and other scholars were placed as advisors to the emperor. He also placed the scholars of the Mandarin Palace to assist the prince, and the rank and rank were all positive five grades. After Ming Chengzu ascended the throne, Xie Jin, Hu Guang, Yang Rong and others were specially sent to the Wenyuan Pavilion at the noon gate to participate in the maintenance of the machine, which was called the cabinet. During the reign of Renzong, Yang Shiqi and Yang Rong were appointed as scholars of the Huagai Hall and the Jinshen Palace, and the power was increased. During the reign of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty, the Huagai Hall was changed to the Middle Pole Palace, and the Jinshen Hall was built into the Pole Palace, and the court rank of the university scholars was listed before the six Shangshu, and the status was greatly improved. Although the cabinet scholars of the Ming Dynasty did not have the name of the prime minister, they actually had the power of the prime minister.

In the Qing Dynasty, during the Tiancong period, there were three courtyards; In July of the fifteenth year of Shunzhi (A.D. 1658), it was officially changed to the cabinet, but it followed the official system of the Ming Dynasty, not to strengthen the functions and powers of the cabinet, but to reduce the grade of scholars (Zhengwupin), reduce the number of its officials, and its power was lower than that of the three inner courts. In the eighteenth year of Shunzhi (1661 AD), it was changed back to the Inner Third Academy, and the grade of the university scholar was the same as that of the six departments. In the ninth year of Kangxi (1670 AD), the cabinet was restored, and he was a scholar and a scholar. After Kangxi became pro-government, the military state was confidential and always belonged to the cabinet. To the eighth year of Yongzheng (1730 AD), the university scholar was promoted to the first product, above the various departments of Shangshu (Shangshu is from a product), although the military aircraft department has been set up at that time, but the minister of military aircraft, in addition to the prince, its leader must be a university scholar, so the university scholar at that time was a high-ranking pole, because the cabinet was called "Zaifu". In the second year of Qianlong (1737 AD), after the establishment of the Military Aircraft Department (the Military Aircraft Department was suspended for two years), the confidential chapters were all sent down to the Military Aircraft Department. All important military affairs must be undertaken by the Minister of Military Aircraft, and the power of the cabinet is light, and it only handles some routine affairs. However, it was still nominally the highest-ranking official office of the Qing Dynasty. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the constitutional monarchy was imitated, and a responsible cabinet was established, and the old cabinet and the Military Aircraft Department were merged into the highest state organ. During the period of the Beiyang warlords, it was renamed the State Council, and it was customary to still call it the cabinet, and its members were called the cabinet.