Chapter 129: Linfeng Residence

Capital.

The Gaoliang Bridge on the outskirts of Beijing is a great place to go for a spring outing. The clear stream on Yuquan Mountain is gurgling down, the tender green aquatic plants in the river are swaying with the waves, and groups of swimming fish are playing and shuttling among them. From time to time, a naughty guy floats to the surface, swallows a mouthful of duckweed that slowly spins and spits it out again, and the bean-sized new green floats into the distance with a bubble. The weeping willows along the river are silky to the water, dancing under the caress of the breeze, and the thick tips come from the swallow chirp. The flapping dragonflies sometimes hovered in the air and sometimes swayed and rushed, attracting the children to chase and run happily. Occasionally, there are people who fall and cry, and the sound of children crying adds infinite vitality to the bright spring. There is a boulder on the shore, engraved with the four big characters of "charming and smoky", the vigorous and vigorous pen power and the graceful and soft meaning of the text are so harmonious, attracting many literati to stop and hit the knot, and send out the praise of "the article is natural, and the wonderful hand is even".

Linfeng Ju is a rather elegant wine shop, built in the west of Gaoliang Bridge more than ten zhang place, most of the scenery along the river is in full view. The dishes of Linfengju are also very good, although they do not belong to any of the cuisines of Sichuan, Hunan and Guangdong, but not only the layout is elegant and the utensils are exquisite, whatever you order, but what will be served later will never lose a few points to which famous chef in the city. However, most of the customers who come here are regular customers, and the restaurant knows better than the customers themselves, and most of the time they don't need to look at the menu and think about it. The location is good, the taste is good, the price is not expensive, and even the hall on the first floor is not affordable for ordinary people.

On the second floor, in a private room facing the window, two people dressed as scribes sat opposite each other against each other. On the table are two dry and two fresh four delicate fruit plates, and the Ming Qian Longjing in the cover bowl exudes a long but long lingering fragrance that fills the room. Estimating that the time was almost up, Xiao Er knocked on the door twice, "Come in." Someone in the room answered. Xiao Er hunched his waist and lowered his eyes lightly picked up the half-empty hot water kettle on the table, replaced the hot water that had just been filled with hot water, and did not speak, bowed lightly to the two, retreated, and turned back to raise his hand to close the door.

These two are frequent visitors to Linfengju, the Ministry of Officials Examination Gong Lang Zhongmi Xuepeng (word Liangyou) and the Wenxuan Division member Wailang Xiao Guanghao (word Cunpei). Don't look at the casual clothes that both of them are wearing, Xiao Er knows that what the two adults are talking about today is a great matter, not only must they not be disturbed, let alone listen, otherwise...... Hmph, wait for the head!

The Ministry of Officials is known as the head of a hundred officials, to what extent is the power? Take charge of the national civil officials (military attachés return to the military department) selection, examinations, and knighthood politics! Except for the cabinet scholars and the officials of the Ministry of Ministers who are recommended by Tingtui* or by the special order of the Holy Son of Heaven, all the internal and external officials are discussed by the Ministry of Officials "together" with other high-ranking officials or elected by themselves - even the appointment and dismissal of the governor-level feudal officials, Tingtui is only a formality: the Nine Qings* are the same, and the officials are the masters!

Say "together", hehe, you know. To put it bluntly, the assessment of the Ministry of Officials and the nomination of the Ministry of Officials, everyone raise their hands. Disagree? Oh good...... By the way, you can't find that assessment form, so let's try it all over again...... Look, I didn't pass! Sure enough, I found out, and I was almost fooled by you! You're not qualified to raise your hand, get out! Is there anything else you disagree with? Okay, unanimously approved. By the way, there is a vacant position just now, I have nothing to do these nights, who wants to discuss the issue of honesty and love for the people like a son?

There is a Shangshu and two waiters in the Ministry of Officials, and there are four Qing Officials Divisions of Wen Xuan, Gong Examination, Inspection, and Seal Inspection. The Department of Literature and Anthology is responsible for the promotion, distribution, appointment and dismissal of officials; The Department of Meritorious Service is responsible for the performance appraisal of hundreds of officials and provides a basis for decision-making for the Department of Literature and Selection; The Department of Ethics is responsible for managing the resumes and systems of officials - parents must be filial piety for three years after death (in fact, it is twenty-seven months, which is called Ding Wei. This word is exclusively used by officials, and ordinary people go home to keep filial piety and call Ding Jian. Where will the Son of Heaven remember which governor of the county has been dead for a long time, and how many days is still a few days before the filial piety period? The Inspector of Honours is responsible for the record-keeping, and when it expires, a new appointment is made. There is also the family situation of the official, for example, the official is meritorious and has a son. If you make new contributions, you must shade the second son. However, this wife gave birth to a daughter in her second child, and gave birth to a big fat son in the side room—this is considered a concubine, and she didn't even have much inheritance rights—and then she asked the Son of Heaven to show her grace*. The inspection and sealing department is responsible for the official's canony, pension (funeral level), and the hereditary status of the local officials - the southwest ethnic minority areas mostly implement the autonomy of the Tusi, and the old Tusi died and his son inherited, or which guy led someone to hack the old Tusi to death and became the boss, the court felt that as long as he could serve the Ming Dynasty as the right Shuo, the old Tusi was hacked to death in eight pieces and his own old death is not much different, so he issued a new approval to the person to recognize, and this matter is also under the control of the inspection and sealing department.

Of course, the most powerful part of the Ministry of Officials is the Second Division of Literature Selection and Merit Examination. Don't look at Lang Zhong (Zheng Wupin), Wai Lang (from Wupin), Director (Zheng Liupin) and other official positions are not big, they are all in real power, you take the four prefects to try with them? No one will say yes!

Next year is the triennial plan, so although the two adults are here today, the content of the conversation is all about work.

I only heard Xiao Guanghao say: "Brother Liangyou, I can't understand Huguang's affairs more and more." You know, Yun Fu was reluctant to be the boss before he took office. I thought that this time he would do everything possible to change places anyway, but recently he has been like crazy, how much private salt has been checked in the past three months, it is almost 20 million catties, right? In this posture, where does it look like you want to leave? ”

Mi Xuepeng continued: "Of course I remember. Before he left, he also ran to Lord Liu (Liu Zhijin, the right attendant of the ministry) to throw a lot of idle talk at the house, and I was present at the time. I also explained that although it is a list we have drawn up, there are a total of five people, and Jian Huiji (Jian Jingneng is from Shaoxing, Zhejiang) is the penultimate one. Saintly hand-picked, what can we do? As a result, he blew his beard and glared at me, how could I not remember? A few months ago, not long after appeasing that Guan Shengyun, his protégé from Honglu Temple came to me and begged him to move his teacher anyway. ”

Xiao Guanghao said: "You're talking about Mao Zangfeng (Honglu Temple Qing Mao Qian, the word Zangfeng), right?" He's been looking for me, too. ”

Mi Xuepeng said "oh" and asked, "How did you get back to him?" ”

Xiao Guanghao smiled, looked at Mi Xuepeng and said, "It's the same as a good friend." ”

Mi Xuepeng was stunned for a moment, and raised his eyes to look at Xiao Guanghao: "How do you know what I said?" Seeing the latter blink slyly, he suddenly laughed out loud with realization-Honglu Temple is in charge of Siyi tribute, greeting and sending, banquets and other things, and it can't be regarded as a key department at all, and Honglu Temple Qing is only the fourth product, and the two powerful officials, no one will take it seriously, and the answers are naturally all exquisite soup scenes.

The two laughed for a while, and Mi Xuepeng said thoughtfully: "What Brother Cunpei said makes sense. I also find the recent situation in Huguang very incomprehensible. There's a strange thing I'm about to tell you about. ”

"Oh? What a strange thing, let's hear it. ”

"The day before yesterday, someone came to me and sent me three thousand taels."

"It's a bit weird indeed, why is it less than a thousand taels? Li and Teng are both human spirits, and they started dredging so early, so they don't know the market? Don't say it, these two are really good! Of course, the imperial court also means this, and the imperial court is at ease. Originally, we arranged for the two of them to be together, just thinking that they couldn't pee into a pot anyway, but we didn't expect that they would be safe all these years. Although there are mutual attacks on the surface, today this sues that one and that one drank a flower wine, and tomorrow that one is addicted to the pear garden...... But it's all done for outsiders to see, not only trivial, but also 'wind and news' chasing after the wind and shadows, I heard that the relationship is good in private, so good that wives and daughters don't avoid that! ”

"Ahem, cough, Cunpei, you should hit that mouth! I just took a sip of tea, and you said what to pee a pot! Mi Xuepeng was choked, "This tea has taught you that the taste has changed!" ”

"Hahaha, sorry sorry. I'll teach them how to change the tea later. How about Keemun Red? ”

"It's still Lu'an melon slices. Drink some green tea in the spring, and black tea on fire. ”

"Good. Wait and see-don't care if it's Li Shiteng, this one sent it, that one's, it's only in the past few days. Xiao Guanghao then raised his voice and called, "Xiao Er, change the tea, melon slices!" ”

"Hey, you guessed wrong!" Seeing Xiao Er come in, Mi Xuepeng stopped talking and looked out the window.

"Huh? Who's that? It can't be the Haizhou who broke the jar (Lianyungang was called Haizhou in the Ming Dynasty, and Kou Shiyi was from Haizhou), right? Waiting for Xiao Er to go out, Xiao Guanghao said curiously.

"It's really him!" Mi Xuepeng's eyes looked at the tea leaves that had not yet fully stretched out.

"How so? Didn't he come out a long time ago and say that he liked to tune in wherever he wanted, and it was better than doing mud bodhisattva decorations in Huguang? What, where did you look? Three thousand taels ...... Either southwest or northwest, three thousand taels in a good place is not enough. ”

"You're wrong again!" Mi Xuepeng took a sip of tea and said unhurriedly, "Why else can I say something strange...... He wants to stay! ”

"Huh...... Weird, weird! all know that the two of Huguang wear a pair of pants in private, and either one will be set up and their feet will not touch the ground. Besides, the surname in northern Hubei is an artillery battle that will explode at any time, whoever is close to him is unlucky, and who will rob him of the broken chair? Do you want to stay in office, are you crazy? These three thousand taels are a bit worthless! Listening to Xiao Guanghao's tone, he felt a little sorry for Kou Shiyi.

"Who's to say it isn't! However, he is not stupid, it is impossible not to see through this layer. ”

"It's kind of interesting!" Xiao Guanghao twisted the beard on his chin thoughtfully, "Jian Huiji suddenly showed his skills, a bit of a blockbuster taste that has not flown for three years, and Kou Haizhou, who is not afraid of boiling water, is actually willing to spend three thousand taels to protect his chair that no one wants to sit on...... Well, kind of interesting! ”

Mi Xuepeng didn't answer, Xiao Guanghao said again: "Or, try it, let the wind go out......"

"No! Absolutely not! Mi Xuepeng categorically denied, "Originally, there was no injustice or hatred, but playing this hand at the moment must be offended at both ends and not pleasing on all sides." ”

"Yes. Jian Huiji must also be troublesome, when we just showed our skills, let's say to turn it off, the saint will never agree, let's fall into a wicked person for nothing. The two have worked together for many years and have already had a tacit understanding.

"I can't even get to the Holy One. Lord Meng (Meng Liangchen, the official book, the word is loyal and straight), and Lord Liu will not agree. Mi Xuepeng said, "Why do the adults ignore it on the surface and let a few of us decide the affairs of the second and third rank masters in the sixth grade?" One is to believe in our ability, and the other is to cause trouble, someone has to come out and take the blame! For my brother to vouch for you, your idea will not wait for it to fall on paper, and Lord Liu will have to find us and ask: 'Why are you doing this?' 'What do we say?' "Because we didn't understand it, so we wanted to try it?" It's not like you're not happy to find it yourself! What is going on in Huguang, we have to figure it out for ourselves! ”

"Brother Liangyou is right!" Xiao Guanghao smiled embarrassedly, "Brother is reckless." ”

Mi Xuepeng nodded: "It's okay, let's watch it for a few more days." I guess, the people from Li and Teng should also arrive in the next few days. I'll ask my friends at the Chief Secretary of Justice again, and pay attention to the situation over there. ”

"Hmm. Ming'er, I'll go to the Metropolitan Inspection Courtyard and listen to what the Imperial Historical Observatory has to say. This year's patrol of Huguang is Li Chang'an (Li Anbang, the word Chang'an), he is very good with Diao Shangzhi (Diao Xiang, the word Shangzhi), and Lao Diao is the same year as me. ”

"Okay. After another ten days and half a month, Huguang's dredging should be almost there. It's weird this year, and it's definitely going to be earlier than elsewhere. When the time comes, let's figure out how to play everywhere - alas, let's do it, it's the God of Wealth passing by, watching the money come in through the front door, and the back door has to go out with a bang! It's true that we've got some oil and water, but who knows how hard we work......"

"Hey, who made us work hard? Then again, it's not easy for adults either. Let's eat something. ”

"Hmm. Little two! Mi Xuepeng got up, pushed open the door, and shouted downstairs.

"Here we go." Xiao Er ran over, "Two adults, what do you want to eat?" ”

"You look at the arrangement, I poured a belly of tea, and I wasn't very hungry. Six dishes are on the line, four meat and two vegetables, and then blanched some Huadiao. The coachman from the person you also arranged. ”

"Okay! Without the orders of the adults, for fear of delaying the business of the two adults, the few masters waiting outside have been arranged! Yangzhou fried rice, with the ingredients for the adults to hang the broth, ham and duck big stick bones, all of you eat with a round belly - full! Wait a minute, two adults, four meat and two vegetarian hot carvings, this is coming! Xiao Er chattered diligently.

*Tingtui: The appointment of high-ranking officials, who are recommended by the minister and appointed with the approval of the emperor is called Tingtui. In the Ming Dynasty, when the imperial court encountered major political affairs, or the first and second rank of civil and military ministers were vacant, the emperor wanted to order the ministers to meet - the two words are separated, "will" and "discuss", that is, to discuss the results of the discussion to the emperor, please decide.

Among them, those who discuss matters, such as Cao Yun, additional tax exemptions, war defense, and the official system, are called court discussions, and those who discuss personnel promotions and appointments are called court pushes.

* Jiuqing: The official of the six departments of officials, households, rites, soldiers, criminals, and workers, the imperial history, the secretary of the capital, and the secretary of the general administration (the person in charge of the general political department, in charge of the hundred officials), a total of nine people, known as the nine secretaries. Jiuqing is the highest government organ in the country.

* Because of the practice of monogamy and polygamy in ancient times, family relations would be very chaotic. Due to space limitations, I will only take the three titles of mother-in-law, stepmother, and biological mother as examples. A has a wife and a concubine.

Concubine, without any social status at all. Many dynasties clearly stipulate that no matter the government or the people, they are not allowed to accept good concubines as concubines - that is, if you take a concubine, find a singer or a goulan courtyard, no one cares how much you accept, but if you are a good citizen of the "people's nationality", you are absolutely not. Of course, often at the end of the day, no one pursues this matter. It's very simple to take a concubine, just hire a small sedan chair and carry it away. Marrying a wife has to go through a lot of procedures, and many old ladies' mantra "I am married by the Ming Media of the Eight Lifts Sedan Car", which emphasizes the orthodox status.

Situation 1: Both of them gave birth to a fat son each.

The son A born to the main wife is called the eldest son, and can inherit the social status and most of the property of a certain A. The son A B born to the concubine is called the concubine, don't think about the social status, how much property you can get depends on Lao Jia's feelings for the concubine. However, no matter how good the relationship is, usually a third or a quarter at most is considered to be the top. Concubines have children, and their social status is extremely low, so it is difficult to get ahead. The origin of the Beijing curse word "Ya's" comes from here - this is the abbreviation of "Ya Ting", "Ya Ting" is also a simplification of the words "raised by a girl", which means that concubines give birth to children and cheap blanks. Of course, today sometimes people who are particularly close to each other also call each other this way, jokingly.

Situation 2: The wife has no children, and the concubine has children.

At this time, the concubine A B should recognize the wife as the mother, which is called the mother-in-law, and the mother-in-law is called the biological mother. This situation is usually the most ideal for this concubine of a certain A - after all, it is flesh and blood, and it is often not bad for herself when she grows up.

Situation 3: The wife has no children and dies early, and the concubine gives birth to children.

Ninety-nine percent, a certain A will not set up a concubine as a wife, but will marry another person who is a good family - concubines often belong to the "lowly status", and have a personal dependency relationship with a certain A, unless the Holy Son of Heaven (minister) or the feudal official specially approved (a commoner with great contributions), it is extremely difficult to get social recognition. No matter how good the relationship is, if a certain person dares to do this, he will be regarded as a beast that challenges the principles of heaven. If a certain wife has a son, it is case 1, and if there is no child, it is situation 2 - at this time, in order to respect the first wife, A B will call the father's new wife his stepmother. Note that today the word has a slightly more or less derogatory connotation, but in ancient times it meant "to continue, inherit" the "mother's duties", which is a very positive word. There's a little story about that. During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the official document office was the governor of Huguang, and Hu Linyi was the governor. The concubine who was very favored by the official Wen celebrated her birthday, and no one in the entire Huguang officialdom went to congratulate her...... Awkwardly, Hu Linyi accompanied the old lady! Mother Hu recognized the concubine of Guanwen as a righteous daughter on the spot - this time her identity changed suddenly, and hundreds of officials from Huguang arrived! Since then, the official document has been unrebellious to Hu Linyi, obeying his words and plans, and has never been restrained......

Situation 4: The wife and concubine both have children.

A A has made many great contributions to the imperial court, the first reward must be the son-in-law, and the second time should be the icing on the cake in theory, but in fact, sometimes a certain A feels that the son-in-law has a certain foundation in the society and wants to seek a background for the son, at this time, the Son of Heaven will issue a special decree and give the seal to the son.

Scenario 5: The wife has two sons, or more.

Concubines and concubines have miserable children! The court will shade the eldest son and the second son, and the second son and the third son...... There will never be a concubine and a child - remember, we talked about "Zhu Shuoxi, the king of Tang Duan, who was 'confused by the concubine'". Even the vassal king can't even set up a concubine and have children!

In novel reviews, there is often a reward of "Mrs. Yipin's Destiny" - this reward will always fall on the head of the wife, and it has nothing to do with the concubine.

Shuzi Jia B has made great contributions (mostly in troubled times, otherwise the society attaches great importance to being born in a family, which is not easy, and most of them are military generals, fighting for the future with their lives), and the court wants to reward his mother: the honorary title must belong to the wife of a certain A, and there is no discussion. However, the money and goods that are rewarded are often in two parts, including one for his biological mother. This does not mean "thank you for giving birth to a good son", the court will not explicitly recognize the social status of the concubine, but comfort the feelings of the meritorious hero A B - but the court will never say it explicitly. I've seen a story.,The protagonist can't remember clearly.,It seems to be Geng Jingzhong (if you know, please give advice). The queen mother gave a brocade robe to Geng's mother, but she didn't expect Geng Jingzhong to be a concubine's son, and of course she had to be regarded as the son of a regular wife in name, but as a result, one of the two said "my son was born to me", and the other said "I raised my son", and the two old ladies fought! Geng Jingzhong was caught in the middle and had no tricks, so he simply returned the padded jacket to the Queen Mother, saying: "The two mothers in my family are knowledgeable and reasonable, and they are humble to each other, and no one will wear them, so I will give it back to you......" The Queen Mother asked someone to understand, and simply gave one each, and then the two old ladies put it on, and continued to roll their eyes at each other with satisfaction......

Because the concubine has a personal attachment to a certain A, the worst thing is that a certain A suddenly dies.

If the wife has children, 99 percent of the concubines and children will be sold or kicked out of the house.

If the wife has no children, the situation will be much better, and the wife will be afraid of A's attitude towards herself when she grows up.

If the concubine has no children, it will be almost 100% sold by the wife.

Not to mention a concubine, if a certain A dies suddenly, and the baby is still young (whether it is A A born to a wife or A A born to a concubine), the wife will often encounter a life and death test - the in-laws may try their best to kill orphans and widows, or it is not uncommon to be driven out of the house on fabricated charges - in order to seize the family property. In ancient times, the government often commended the chaste martyrs who kept the festival, but in fact, etiquette and religion were on the one hand, and the glossy surface was just a glossy surface - implying more, it was the meaning of stabilizing the society: you all looked carefully, the widow swore to keep the festival and not remarry, and your family's property would not fall into the hands of outsiders. She swore that if she changed her mind and married someone in the future, I would return the property to your family, so be honest with me, and don't make any things to make money and kill people to make it seem that I have no way to educate my lord!

All these twists and turns above, so that the Son of Heaven will not have so much time and energy to distinguish, it is all the business of the Ji Xun Division. In practice, it is much more complicated: there are many messy relationships such as "adoptive mother" (adopted a step-son), "loving mother" (concubine A gave birth to a child and handed it over to concubine B to raise), "nursing mother" (wet nurse), "mother" (biological mother who was divorced by a certain person), "married mother" (remarried mother) and many other messy relationships. So, this department is usually busy.

BTW, there is another misunderstanding. Modern people think that in ancient times, "machismo", men had the final say in everything. Not exactly. In fact, in ancient times, the wife was still very respectful, the so-called male protagonist outside, female protagonist inside: the outside affairs naturally belong to the man, but the family is usually the hostess who has the final say, and the man cannot interfere too much. Those who beat their wives and beat their sons at home are mostly inferior people such as porters, and those with a little social status can't do that, and they will be looked down upon. Social death in ancient times was much worse than it is today – because the circle in which you live is so small. The most obvious examples are Mrs. Lijia and Wang Xifeng in "Dream of Red Mansions".

[Six-day stoppage.] Please help you recommend and share, thank you! 】