Patriarch, he doesn't want to take the imperial examinations

Chapter 57

After this day, two days later, Mengqing's daughter was born one month old.

The Meng family entertained with a feast, and invited relatives and friends to come to congratulate the child on the full moon.

At the banquet, Meng Qing named the child Meng Xue because it snowed heavily on the day the child was born.Snowflakes are crystal clear, pure and flawless, and also have the meaning of ice and snow intelligence.

In February, when all things recover, people who have been nested for a winter also come out to do activities one after another, stretching their muscles and bones, going to school, doing work, and busy farming, and start to work hard for a year's livelihood.

Meng Hong and Meng Ze went to the capital together, while Meng Qing was preparing to build a school.The county seat of Xianghe County has a square structure, and the schools are mostly concentrated in the center of the city. The north and south lead to prosperity, while the east and west are desolate.

Meng Qing planned to build a school in the westernmost and easternmost parts of the county.The first task of building a school is to buy land. After he is optimistic about the land, he will go to the government with the seller to go through the formalities.

Private funding to set up schools is highly encouraged by the government. The county magistrate and Meng Qing are old acquaintances. When Meng Qing came to go through the formalities and issued qualifications for setting up schools, the county magistrate was very straightforward and gave the two procedures to him in half a day. It's done.

With the support of the government, Mengqing started to buy bricks and tiles, and then found someone to build them.By the time the house was erected and the foundation was built, and the blue bricks were being built up one by one, a month had passed.

During this period, Meng Zhen, the master of the Meng Mansion, shuttled back and forth between the county scholars as usual.After February is over, it will be a gorgeous March day with red flowers, willows and green flowers.

The students in the school took off their half-thick clothes and wore azure one-piece shirts uniformly issued by the county school. Standing in the center of the wide square in front of Minglun Hall, it is the brightest scenery among the colorful flowers in late spring.

Heart of beauty in everyone.Whether man or woman, old or young, rich or poor, people without exception do not pay attention to their external appearance.

Old age is like a dream, people are old and their hearts are not old.In his previous life, he was called "Beautiful Old Ancestor" by his disciples and grandchildren, and this title was not for nothing.

If his appearance in his previous life was placed among this group of students, Meng Zhen could say without shame that no one could match him.It's just a pity, now he looks like an old man, and he can't get along with Mei at all.

But the township examination is still next year, and if he is lucky, he will have to wait until the year after tomorrow to pass the imperial examination together, at least two years away from now.

When I was an ancestor in my previous life, I came here for hundreds of years. In this life, the imperial examination always feels that life is not so comfortable. Sometimes, year after year is particularly difficult.

It's like now, sitting in the spacious classroom of Minglun Hall, originally in a good mood, but because of Teacher Yang's morning strategy theory, the whole person is in a bad mood.

Instructor Yang is also strange. There is no fixed number of exams. Students are not tested on a monthly or daily basis. It is completely based on his own wishes. Today, he is in a good mood. Seeing the plum blossoms outside the window, he thought that such a beautiful scenery should not be let down. And out of a poem about plum, the students were asked to make a five-character and eight-rhyme test post poem.

Or wait until tomorrow, and suddenly feel bad again, and ask the students to do an stereotyped essay again.Stereotype essays are boring and boring, and students don't like them.Instructor Yang believes that worrying alone is not as good as worrying about others, and he can't let himself be bad, it's better for everyone to worry together.

He is obviously a serious and serious person, but sometimes he becomes unserious in the exams, which makes the students wonder why their instructor Yang has a dual personality, or why he keeps torturing them in the exams.

Instructor Yang thought that he didn't intend to torture the students, it was because of his character, and the irregular exams could help the students find out their own shortcomings, he was also kind, so how could he be said to be dishonest.

The topic of policy questions assigned by Instructor Yang today is to discuss the pros and cons of businessmen's social status.The social status of businessmen in previous dynasties was ranked at the bottom of the four peoples. Since the founding of the country, the current dynasties have changed their policies and directly raised the status of merchants to two levels, second only to scholars.

However, while the social status of merchants improved, disadvantages also appeared. Some merchants used their money to donate officials to buy officials, and 4000 taels of silver to buy an official of a magistrate, and their salary was only 60 taels of silver.

In order to get back the money donated to officials, these officials usually accept bribes and exploit the people's fat and anointing. They only want to collect money, but they don't care about doing things for the people.Even if the government is corrupt, it will cause public resentment, and in severe cases, it will lead to social unrest.

Many high-ranking and important officials in the court were obtained by donating officials. As you can imagine, officials were corrupt and bribery became common practice, which made the court full of smog and public resentment.

For this reason, some virtuous ministers and generals jointly wrote a letter, requesting the emperor to order the abolition of the policy of donating officials, and that if one wants to become an official, he must take the road of imperial examination, so as to return the court to the Qing Dynasty.

Fortunately, the current emperor is not fatuous and incompetent. He followed the suggestions of the officials and abolished the policy of donating officials in the autumn of the fourth year of Zhaoping.

The imperial decree clearly stipulates that businessmen are not allowed to obtain the official position of county magistrate or above through donations, and idle official positions such as those other than officials are allowed.

This policy of donating officials was abolished, and officials immediately proposed measures to lower the status of businessmen. These people believed that the reason for corruption in the country was all due to the high social status of businessmen.Merchants are rich and have high status, so they will bribe officials with money. In turn, officials will take money from merchants and make things convenient for merchants. The imperial court caused new corruption and chaos.

So the officials once again wrote a letter, imploring the emperor to lower the social status of the merchants.However, the emperor did not allow it, and the emperor could not allow it.

It should be noted that Tai Zu, the founder of this dynasty, was in business before he was an emperor. At that time, the social status of merchants was low. Due to the suppression by the imperial court, the business affairs of Tai Zu's family were not going well. At that time, there was war, Tai Zu The ancestral family abandoned business and joined the military, recruited soldiers from the people, won over the hearts of the people, accumulated over time, and the team continued to grow. Finally, in the turbulent era, they made a bloody way, entered the palace to overthrow the old dynasty, proclaimed themselves emperor, and established a new dynasty.

When the new emperor came to the throne, the first thing he did was to improve the social status of the merchants. Facts have proved that this decision is correct.Merchants traveled north and south, and goods were widely circulated, which not only promoted economic development, but also further narrowed the cultural differences between the north and the south. From this dynasty to the third generation of kings, the economy and culture were unprecedentedly prosperous and harmonious.

However, there is no absolute in the world, everything is relative.The improvement of the social status of merchants has indeed promoted the development of economy and culture, and promoted the prosperity of the country, but new disadvantages have also emerged.

It is also the third generation of kings, that is, the first emperor, the father of the current emperor, because he relied too much on merchants, which led to rampant behavior of merchants, colluding with officials, oppressing the people together, and even buying and selling official positions.But the first emperor not only did not stop this kind of behavior, but even took the initiative to sell officials and nobles to those top businessmen, so as to collect huge wealth and fill the national treasury.

As a result, it is conceivable that officials all go to collude with businessmen to collect money, and businessmen need a lot of money to buy an official, which is far from the salary they receive as an official.In order to regain this kind of equality, these officials who obtained official positions through buying officials will wantonly exploit the common people. They only have money in their hearts, and they will not do anything for the common people.

One of the main reasons for the turmoil between the government and the opposition is the intertwining of officials and businessmen and the corruption of officials.During the time of the first emperor, although the country had no external aggression and the economy was prosperous, it still couldn't stop the uprisings of large and small organized by the people spontaneously.

For this reason, some officials continued to write letters, imploring the emperor to abolish the official donation system and lower the social status of merchants, but unfortunately they were rejected by the first emperor without exception.

This kind of chaos of donating and buying officials was suppressed until the succession of the present, but the emperor would not agree to the officials' proposal to lower the social status of merchants.

Their royal family started out as merchants, and they were supported by many merchants when they resisted the old dynasty. The ancestors said that people should not forget their roots, so how could they suppress the merchants who supported themselves.What's more, business taxes are high in this dynasty, and more than half of the treasury is provided by businessmen. With so much money left unused, it may not be out of the mind to suppress businessmen who support themselves.

However, the emperor did not let go of the problems raised by the ministers about the relationship between officials and businessmen. Instead, he formulated a set of laws. Once anyone who donated an official to buy an official was discovered, his property would be confiscated immediately, and his home would be ransacked.

For officials who accepted bribes, if the corruption was particularly serious and the public reported them to the emperor, their official positions would be lost at least, and their heads would be killed at worst.

The implementation of this law has not completely eradicated the chaos between officials and businessmen, but it has also played its due effect. From the fourth year of Zhaoping to the present 14th year of Zhaoping, official corruption is rare, and scholars are admitted to office through imperial examinations. , the ruling and opposition parties are relatively peaceful, and the air is bright and the wind is clear.

However, there are still many officials who believe that if the social status of businessmen is not lowered, one day the phenomenon of corruption between officials and businessmen will reappear.

Some people think that the corruption of officials and corruption of officials are necessarily related to the high social status of businessmen.

What do you think about this?

This is the question that Instructor Yang gave to the students today.Many students in the school are in business, so of course they don't agree with the views on this kind of issue.

Before Meng Qing answered the question, he suddenly thought of the fact that Meng Qing was deliberately murdered in the first month of last year. He and Meng Qing went to the government to report to the government.

At that time, Meng Qing said that he had to deal with the government in order to do business, and the county magistrate would do a lot of convenient things for him after receiving his money, and the businessman and the government just took what they needed.

Meng Zhen thinks that there is a problem with this question. Official corruption and official corruption are mostly caused by the inaction of the court, and have much to do with the social status of merchants.That is, the social status of merchants has been lowered, the court has done nothing, and social phenomena such as corrupt officials and corrupt officials are true.

It was still early after the test papers were handed in, and many students had no plans to go home yet, so they sat together and chatted about the strategy problem just now.

One of the students said: "I think there is something wrong with the person who asked this question. What is the relationship between the corruption of corrupt officials in society and the social status of businessmen? Wouldn't they not be corrupt without businessmen? And in recent years, businessmen have been caught Tails are human beings, they don’t donate to officials, they don’t bribe officials, and some even build roads and bridges out of their own pockets.

Immediately, someone echoed: "Yes, Huang's words are not bad. Take the place where our family lives now as an example. A school under construction suddenly appeared in the past few days. I heard that the school is run by our Xianghe A well-known grain merchant in the county funded and built more than one. In addition to the area to the east of our county, there seems to be one in the west of the county. But I heard what others said, and I didn’t go to the west. I’ve seen it, so I don’t know if it’s true or not.”

"It's true!" A student continued, "It happens that my family lives in the west of the city. When I passed by the street in front of my house these days, I saw that the school building had already been built. If there is no accident, three months It can be done in less than a year, and maybe this fall the kids will be able to sit in it and read and study."

"Hey, I remember that the surname of Meng, a famous grain merchant in our Xianghe County, isn't it the family of Meng's classmate?"

Suddenly, some student came up with such a sentence, and everyone's eyes moved to Meng Zhen at the same time. Some students even ran over and asked: "Student Meng, is it your family who built the school for us in Xianghe County?"

Meng Zhen looked at the student's eyes eager to know, and nodded: "That's right, it's my eldest son Meng Qing."

"Wow, I didn't expect Classmate Meng's family to be a big rich man who is willing to do good. Let me just say that there was something wrong with the strategy just now. The businessman did good to build a school, and the court didn't reward him. He was still thinking about how to suppress it. What good is it to them if it is suppressed, whoever pays them taxes and money will benefit the people's livelihood, and let those corrupt officials drink the northwest wind."

This dynasty is relatively tolerant of the public's speech. From the imperial court to the official, down to the old man in the village, as long as it is not to slander the Tianjia, anyone can discuss it at will.

Most of these students are new to the world, and some are even very angry. For a controversial matter, they will praise the good side, while the opposite side will continue to criticize.

The corrupt officials in this policy issue were scolded bloody by them, and the businessmen who did good deeds became the objects of their praise.Moreover, the more you talk, the more energetic you are.

In the end, Instructor Yang, who was sitting in the lecture hall reviewing the articles, coughed heavily, interrupting their chatter.

"I don't go home after school and talk too much here. Is it because I don't have enough homework? Come on, come here. I still have a few questions. Since everyone is so eloquent, it doesn't hurt to talk more. .”

How could the students dare? Seeing that Instructor Yang had a stern face, they covered their mouths tightly for a while, dared not speak any more, and went back to their respective homes with their books on their backs.

A few days after trying out the strategy that day, Qin Xuezheng came to Xianghe County to inspect the school.

Xuezheng is in charge of the academic affairs of a province (capital), and during his term of office, he must continue to conduct comprehensive inspections in all aspects of the prefectural and county schools run by the locality.Among them, it is not only the homework of the students that needs to be checked, but also whether the students are slack and lazy. The academic administration also needs to assess the instructors on the job.

Therefore, both the instructors and the students, during the three or four days of Qin Xuezheng's visit, they all worked hard and did not dare to slack off in the slightest.

After Qin Xuezheng left, the students finally breathed a sigh of relief. This student is really difficult to be a student. Not only will he be given repeated exams by his own instructor, but he will also be given a surprise inspection by Xuezheng. In case of poor performance, Xuezheng will remove him as a scholar Fame is possible.

With the pressure exerted by these two parties, it is difficult for students not to make progress.

In the weather of March, the green trees are smoky and verdant, the rain will fall in the evening, and the dewdrops on the grass leaves in the early morning of the second day are full and clear, but they can't block the sunshine. The formed dewdrops are evaporated completely.When the students took their books to study in the bamboo forest in the afternoon, there was not a drop of crystal dew left on the grass blades.

The second half of the day at the end of each month is the time for Mengzhen to preach to everyone.At first, the students thought it was strange and listened to it a few times, but then they stopped listening.Because they find it boring and a waste of time, it is better to chat with classmates and discuss a few articles with this spare time.

So in the end, there were only about twenty people left to listen to Mengzhen's sermon.This afternoon, Meng Zhenyi sat on a big rock in the bamboo grove to preach to his fellow enthusiasts as usual. After the speech, everyone left one after another as usual. Looking drunk, he couldn't help but pat him on the shoulder: "School is over, everyone is leaving, so go too."

Liu Chan was in a trance, and smiled: "Uncle Meng, let's go together."

Meng Zhen nodded, and walked out of the purple bamboo forest with him.Speaking of Liu Chan, every time Mengzhen gave a sermon, he would come to him, and he would listen to it with great fascination. Every time Mengzhen called him when everyone left, he would only react.

What an idiot, Meng really thought, it is really rare for such a person to live two lives.However, every time Mengzhen saw him, he would always remember from time to time that Mr. Liu came to his house to criticize him, saying that he had preached well and led his well-behaved son into a ditch.

Now it seems that Mr. Liu is completely unfounded.Instructor Yang would test the students from time to time, and Liu Chan's grades were always at the top every time, and he did not back down because of his obsession with Taoism.

Instructor Yang once commented on Liu Chan, the young man doesn't talk much, and the ink is hidden in his stomach.

Meng Zhen glanced at the shy young man who was walking beside him, and asked, "Why do you still sit there without moving a bit when everyone else leaves every time I finish my sermon."

Liu Chan was a little shy, and said embarrassedly: "I want to travel the sky with Lao Zhuang."

This...Meng Zhen was stunned for a moment, he didn't expect this, he didn't talk about Lao Zhuang today, why did Liu Chan run away with Lao Zhuang, he really is an idiot, different from others.

"In fact, I have been in contact with Laozhuang since I was very young, but my father found out and burned it. Since then, there is nothing but Confucianism in my house." Liu Chan added, "So when you preached Afterwards, I quietly bought Lao Zhuang’s book and went home, and my father was so angry, he scolded me enough, and went to find you again.”

"Actually, I can't blame you for this. After studying Confucianism for a long time, if you read Lao Zhuang occasionally, you will find that your body and mind are in a state of emptiness, which is something you can never experience. So Every time I finish listening to your sermon, the reason why I react slower than others is that I have been greedy for that feeling for a little more."

For Liu Chan's words, Meng Zhen didn't know how to answer him for a moment.In fact, what Liu Chan said is not wrong. When you are tired of doing one thing, reading Laozhuang, especially Zhuangzi, can really let people relax physically and mentally, just like every time he meditates, he has no other distractions and forgets him alone.

"But Uncle Meng can rest assured that although I am obsessed with Taoism, my studies will not fall behind."

Meng is really relieved about this.During the conversation, the two left the gate of the county school. Usually Ah Qing was waiting for him at the gate in a carriage, but this time it was Meng Hong.

In the afterglow of the setting sun, Meng Hong smiled and waved to him.

"Why are you here?" Meng Zhen came over and asked.He hadn't seen Menghong for nearly two months.

Meng Hong smiled and said: "Don't you miss your father? Let's go home and have a look." After the first lunar month, Meng Hong went to the capital. This trip lasted for two months. His old father was still at home, so he always needed time. Check back.

He came back this afternoon, before he got to the door, he saw Ah Qing driving the carriage to pick up Mengzhen, without thinking, he jumped off the horse and asked Ah Qing for the reins, and came to pick up his old father himself.

When his father got into the carriage, Meng Hong flicked the rein up and down, the carriage started to run, and arrived at his house in a short while.

Getting off the carriage, Meng Zhen was still a little dizzy, and was about to complain that Meng Hong was driving like a reincarnation, when another carriage came across, and it was Meng Qing who got off.

"Father!" Meng Qing yelled first, walked up to the two of them, and then looked at Meng Hong, "Why are you back, do you still know?" The tone of his speech was completely different from that of his father just now. disgusted.

"Why can't I come back? This is my home too. I can come whenever I want." Meng Hong originally wanted to say hello to his brother happily, but with Meng Qing's attitude, there is no need for him to make peace with him. Be kind.

"I haven't seen you for two months, your skin is getting thicker and thicker, I think you just need to smoke."

"It's not that big brother doesn't talk well first, if big brother is friendly to me, how can I be disrespectful to big brother." Facing Meng Qing's unreasonable, Meng Hong was not to be outdone, and contradicted him.

Meng Qing was overwhelmed by his words, just about to reprimand him, but Meng Zhen interjected: "When we meet, we quarrel, the two brothers have so much grievance, we can't let it go." After finishing speaking, he walked past them and entered the door went.

Meng Hong glanced at his brother and quickly followed his father.He thought to himself, Meng Qing disliked him in all kinds of ways when he met him, and he was afraid that he would not be able to stop at the dinner table for a while.

Sure enough, during dinner at night, no one spoke at first. After a while, Meng Qing first talked about the construction of the lower school, and then talked about the children, but the few people at the table didn't respond to him very much.

This is embarrassing.

"Meng Hong!" He shouted, Meng Hong looked at him, seeing that his brother's expression was not very good, he knew that something was wrong.

"You are old and young, don't wander around outside all day long, it's time to think about starting a family."

At first, Meng Qing's words were mild, but Meng Hong nodded: "Understood, brother."

These words were obviously perfunctory, and Meng Qing immediately became a little unhappy.It was agreed before that he would not interfere with Meng Hong's marriage, and let him go with the flow, but every time he saw Meng Hong's big boss dangling in front of him, he couldn't control his mouth and said something about him .

"How do you know? You can't just talk about your brain. You say you know every time, but when you take action, you just ignore my words and don't listen to them at all, right?"

Meng Hong didn't know which muscle of Meng Qing was wrong again, it was like menopause, he would get nervous at every turn, he didn't know where to provoke him.

"Then what do you want from me? You can't rush this matter. No matter how anxious you are, do you want me to bring you one back tomorrow?"

"You..." Meng Qing was stunned for a moment, but he didn't intend to argue with him, so he suppressed his breath for now, and said to him separately, "Mengze is also seventeen, and it's time to consider starting a family, you are an older brother If you don’t get married, people will say how to get married when you are on top of others. Don’t ruin the whole family just because you are alone.”

Ho, well, we all know that Monze will be used to suppress him.But Meng Hong quickly realized that Meng Qing's move is really high.The ancients paid attention to the order of seniority, so it is true that the elder brother should not get married, and the younger brother should not get married first, otherwise it would be a disorder of etiquette.

According to the ritual system of this dynasty, women can talk about marriage when they are 17 years old and men are [-] years old.And Mengze is just [-] years old this year, and he has indeed reached the age to be said to be married by his family. Menghong never thought of this.

"Brother, I didn't say that I'm not married, I just haven't found a suitable one for a while, and I might find one after a year or two of delay."

What he said was quite casual, and to Meng Qing's ears, it was another kind of perfunctory.He didn't understand why Meng Hong resisted marriage so much, wouldn't it be nice to have a beautiful wife?Is it not good for the wife and children to be hot on the kang?Why do you have to deal with major events in your own life?Meng Hong probably has a brain problem.

"Another year or two? Can you afford to wait for others to wait? Marriage is not about you alone, it's about the whole family. Tomorrow I'll call Matchmaker Cui to tell you about the marriage. Don't tell me Whether it is suitable or not, the family is right, the woman is good-looking and good-natured, it is suitable."

Meng Hong couldn't laugh or cry when he gave his elder brother such a speech, why Meng Qing was so obsessed with his marriage, his father was still there, and his father didn't say anything, why should Meng Qing make plans for him.He is an independent person and does not belong to him.

"Don't eat!" Meng Hong kicked off the stool and was about to leave.

Meng Qing called him to stop: "Who are you throwing face at, if you leave this door today, don't come back."

Besides the two of them at the dinner table, there were Mengzhen Mengche Wang Xinyu and three other people.Wang Xinyu saw that the posture of his brothers was not right, and they were about to explode, so she hurriedly pulled La Mengqing, asking him to say a few words less.

But Meng Qing acted as if he couldn't see it, and remained indifferent.

Meng Che, who was sitting across from him, hurriedly buried his head in the bowl, for fear that his elder brother's anger would have nowhere to vent and hurt himself.At the same time, I was sweating for his second brother. Poor second brother, he just came back not long ago, and his butt was not hot yet, so he was caught and tortured by the elder brother. It's really pitiful.

In the end, Mengzhen was left, and he didn't intend to interfere. Every time the two brothers quarreled, he reprimanded them again and again, and it would still be the same at the next meal.So this time he didn't care about it no matter what, he planned to stand by and watch how much money the two of his brothers could make.

"Brother, let's figure it out. I have no problem marrying whoever I like." Meng Hong broke the jar, not planning to entangle with Meng Qing any longer.

Meng Qing also calmed down his emotions and said: "Okay, it's best if you think like this, tomorrow I will ask Matchmaker Cui to tell you about your marriage, and tell you more about your family, so I won't treat you badly. Until you are satisfied."

"Okay, sit down and eat!" Seeing that he was still struggling there, Meng Qing urged him.

Meng Hong hooked the stool with his foot, and when he sat down, he suddenly changed his mind: "No, I don't want big brother to say kiss to me, I have someone I like."

"Who is it?" Meng Hong's words sounded like thunder on the ground, not only Meng Qing was shocked, but several other people also looked at him.

"Deng Zhaozhao is the daughter of Deng Yuming's family. I will not marry anyone but her."

Standing by the table, Meng Hong looked down at Meng Qing who was sitting next to him, feeling a burst of joy in his heart.

Hmph, I will marry whomever you don't want me to marry.

See if I'm not mad at you!

The author says:

This chapter mainly introduces the background of the dynasty in which the protagonist lives.This dynasty is called the Dajing Dynasty, and the reign name of the current emperor is Zhaoping. The protagonist is from the 11th year of Zhaoping. Now it is the 14th year of Zhaoping, almost three years ago.

In addition, the economic and cultural prosperity of this dynasty was similar to that of the heyday of the Qing Dynasty. The social status of merchants was high, second only to scholars.Of course, businessmen have a high social status, and colluding with officials will lead to the failure of the court. This chapter also briefly talks about it.

Not much to say about the specific in-depth.This article mainly writes about the protagonist's reading of the imperial examination and a large number of short descriptions of the parents, and does not involve the court.The article was originally expected to be 30 words, but now it seems that 30 words is too much to write. It should be more than 30 words, not more than 40 words.I can't write a long novel, so I cover my face, and I will write a few more books in the future before writing a long novel.

In the end, I found that I started writing short farming essays for my parents, but when I got to the exams and courts, I couldn't write anymore.In the future, I will write a pure farming article, which does not involve exams and the like. The exams are too tiring, and the ancient imperial examinations are extremely difficult... Tired...

This chapter is a bit scattered, the title doesn’t know what to write, I’m laughing