Chapter 124: He will not marry the emperor's daughter

In fact, Emperor Zhao Xu himself was not disgusted with this matter. On the contrary, when the tall Zhao Xing squatted down to tidy up his clothes, Zhao Xu felt only the warmth and care of his father, so he waved his hand behind his back to prevent the guard from coming forward to interfere.

Originally, Zhao Xing's shrewdness could fully detect the abnormalities around him, but when he squatted down, he was just married, and he was all focused on his children. He was occasionally alert and was covered up by the excitement of entering the palace. After reflecting on the incident, he measured the Song Dynasty with the thinking of modern people, so he thought he had caused a big disaster...

Now, when he heard that the imperial guards were not going to punish him, he breathed a sigh of relief. He remembered the experience of learning etiquette at that time, and asked carefully: "I heard that the emperor needed to kneel three times and kowtow nine times, why didn't we practice it? I heard that the etiquette was very complicated when bowing. If the officials of the Ministry of Rites did not teach us, could the master's wife..."

Halfway through the words, Zhao Xing had already realized something was wrong. He thought of a famous hand-painted painting by Song Huizong, who sat on the bench with Cai Jing...

The king and his subjects are sitting!

In the Song Dynasty, when they were in charge of affairs with the scholars and officials, the ministers did not have to kneel down when discussing affairs in the court, and those who succeeded were qualified to be a scholar and officials, so they naturally did not have to kneel down.

Immediately afterwards, Mrs. Wang's explanation confirmed his conjecture...

Zhao Xing didn't know that this phenomenon was recorded in many Song Dynasty albums: the king and his subjects were in opposition to each other, and the ministers did not kneel in front of the emperor - this shows that the officials of the Song Dynasty did not need to kneel three times and nine times.

I love this Song Dynasty!

However, the Song Dynasty still had the etiquette of "three kneeling and nine kowtows", which was a ritual that the common people needed to perform. Then, when the common people and Zhu Yuanzhang, who was a rogue, became the emperor, he introduced the ceremony of kneeling and worshipping into the court...

After a false alarm, Zhao Xing felt relieved. When he thought about it, he suddenly burst into a cold sweat.

According to his experience, when this national crisis breaks out, the new party members who are proficient in fighting philosophy must think of an idea to transfer the "accountability storm". How to transfer - internal struggle. At this moment, who is the most vulnerable to attack - Su Shi. Only Su Shi, the middle-level harmony faction, will fight him with the least resistance.

Zhao Xing looked up at Mrs. Wang. At this time, Mrs. Wang was a little unaware of anything. After making fun of Zhao Xing, she chatted with Cheng Azhu in clothes and explained in detail to her what to pay attention to in the future when wearing clothes and hats.

"For example, boots", Mrs. Wang pointed to Cheng Azhu's beautiful red boots and continued: "It doesn't matter what color of shoes our girl wears, but you can only wear black in the future. This kind of shoes is called 'black'. And the accessories hanging on your waist are also particular..."

After talking about the issues that need to be paid attention to in clothing, Mrs. Wang pointed at Zhao Xing again and said with a smile: "Also, your previous name was also a random call, so you should pay attention to it in the future. For example, Chaoyun, you often call your aunt, but this is wrong. You should call her "Shaomu" and "Zhipo". She was bought by me, and you can call her "Wang Shaomu" and "Wang Zhipo". The same is true for your students. You should call Yiyi "Chen Shaomu" and "Chen Zhipo"...

Also, you should call your servants a servant, and this should not be the case. You should call them "yard", "guaizhuer", "housekeeper" and "neizhi", and the old man... In the past, Wen Gong (Wen Yanbo) once talked to a friend: When he was just as the envoy, the "yard" had already called themselves "pushe". After becoming prime minister, the name of the servants was upgraded. Look, the word "pu" is so noble, how dare you call your "yard" at will...

The 'yard' calls the male and female hostess the 'langjun' and 'mother'. The yards call you the 'man' and 'master'. When you hear this, you will know that you taught me. What is the name? When you are white, you will be called by others and no one blames you. In the future, you need to pay attention to the fact that if you call it wrong, it will cause hatred and impeachment..."

According to Mrs. Wang's explanation, Cheng Azhu will be called "Ru Ren" in the future, and the students must call her "Empress Cheng" and "Empress". As for "aunt", it is the husband's wife and sister, and students cannot be used to call her teacher's concubine. As the wife of an official, Azhu's clothing also has regulations. The requirements are very detailed in terms of the grade and color and style of wearing. If it goes wrong, it will lead to impeachment from the censor.

Even the title is so troublesome, Zhao Xing felt dizzy after listening for a while.

Mrs. Wang stayed at Zhao Xing's house until the evening, and after explaining all the issues to be explained clearly, she said goodbye. She introduced the precautions more detailed than those of the officials of the Ministry of Rites. It was not until this time that Zhao Xing knew how ignorant he was in the past. He now understood that two sets of etiquette were popular in the Song Dynasty, one was the common etiquette, and he needed to kowtow to the officials; the other was the etiquette. The literati did not have to kowtow to the emperor, and paid less taxes and had more preferential treatment, but they had to follow the etiquette between them...

The next day, just as the sky was dawn, Zhao Xing was awakened by Ma Meng. This time Cheng Xia learned his lesson. He knew that he could not enter the palace, so he was boring to wait outside, so he did not ask to follow him. Zhao Xing rode his horse alone, and two servants carried lights for him. He walked along the stars and rushed to the palace.

When he passed by Su Shi's mansion, Su Shi was also out. His face was solemn and seemed a little bored. When he saw Zhao Xing, he nodded in a hurry. Zhao Xing was not polite and urged the horse to go with him.

Two tall horses with divine horses walked onto the street together, attracting applause from countless officials. Many officials looked out from the sedan chair and saw that it was Su Shi, and then retracted their heads back into the sedan chair.

Su Shi was speechless all the way. When he saw Donghuamen, he whispered: "Yesterday, someone in the court talked about this imperial examination. Some censors said that the questions for this imperial examination were inappropriate. They dismembered the exam questions and took them out of context. Then they said that I intended to slander the emperor... Fortunately, Empress Dowager Gao stopped him.

After this matter was finished, some officials said that I would admit you for personal gain... Fortunately, your test paper was very exciting. After reading the papers on site, all the officials in the court were speechless. In addition, the three new songs you composed in the capital are now singing, especially "Farewell", where the city sang "A goblet of wine will be over and over again", which made the accusation seem to be nothing wrong.

However, this matter has not yet been stopped, and some officials said: Since the Leaf has such talent and knowledge, why is it unfair to be ranked last on the list?... Some people said: "As the first student, Zhao Xing, the last student," is not auspicious.

Alas, forgot, no matter what they do, they will blame and insult.”

What is Zhao Xing's name? His surname is Zhao, and the emperor of the Song Dynasty was also Zhao. It was during the Qing Tang Rebellion. Zhao Xing was the last place on the imperial examination list. The ancients who liked prophecies and divination thought that this sign was not good, so they planned to make a fuss about Zhao Xing's ranking.

When Zhao Xing heard this, he suddenly felt a sudden horse. He said depressedly: "Does I be the top scholar because of my good name? Then I am no longer a joke... Forget it, I didn't expect that the imperial examination will cause so much trouble - it's better to go back."

Zhao Xing said while turning his horse's head. Su Shi was anxious. He understood that Zhao Xing was worried that he would cause him more trouble, so he planned to withdraw, but if Zhao Xing withdrew like this, it would be bad for everyone. He quickly grabbed Zhao Xing and whispered.

There were already many officials and scholars outside Donghua Gate. The pull of the two immediately alarmed the imperial guards. The imperial guards on duty rushed over and shouted, but when he took advantage of the lights in Zhao Xing's hand and saw the people on the horse clearly, he immediately lowered his voice a lot: "Zhao Lang, you can't make trouble here, and don't look at what this place is?

I beg you, brothers are on duty today, you will be quiet for a while, and I will invite you in Helelou. If you like to quarrel here-- I will come tomorrow, I will not be on duty tomorrow."

When Zhao Xing heard the other party speak so kindly, he leaned over and picked up the light in the 'yard' hand - Zhang appeared under the light with his chubby face.

Since the "friend" had spoken, Zhao Xing stopped his movements in a depressed manner. Seeing that Zhao Xing no longer insisted on going back, Su Shi quickly pulled Zhao Xing's horse and walked towards Donghuamen. Zhao Xing had no time to bow to Zhang Yong on the horse. Behind him, Zhang Yong patted his chest and breathed a long sigh of relief.

The noise had already alarmed the officials. The officials were waiting outside Donghua Gate for the imperial city to open the gate. Their feet did not move and they whispered to each other. Zhao Xing ignored them and searched among a group of white-clothed people and found Zhou Bang-style figure. He walked over, grabbed the man, and whispered: "What? Where have you lived in these two days? Why don't you go to my mansion?"

Zhou Bangshi bowed to Zhao Xing on the spot. His attitude became much more friendly. He lowered his voice and first thanked Zhao Xing for sending his brother away, and then replied in a low voice: "There are several groups of people living in your house, so I won't join in the fun."

"Don't join in the fun" is an angry saying, but in fact, this guy is different from Qin Guan and others' political views, so he can't get along.

In fact, this phenomenon of borrowing and remittance often occurred in the Song Dynasty. The remittance and the owner did not have much intersection. When they were hungry, they ordered the kitchen to make it, and when they were thirsty, they ordered the female envoy to serve tea and water.

Often, there is not much intersection between the borrowers. This is because Song-style residences are all from one courtyard to another, and each guest has his own independent world. Unless the host calls them, they will not interfere and live their own lives.

There were many people living in Zhao Xing's house, but his house was just a petty-bourgeois house from the Song Dynasty, with more than 100 houses of all sizes.

Because in the outer city, such houses are generally not as high as those in the inner city. For example, the area where Su Shi lives is equivalent to the noble residential area of ​​the Song Dynasty. Now it is the area within the first ring of Beijing City, with the imperial palace close to you. Therefore, although Su Shi has more than 40 houses, the overall grade is more than one or two higher than Zhao Xing.

See it - the house of the Song people. People in the capital have more than 40 houses in the first ring road. That is the bottom line of the middle class. After the second ring road, they will not show their grades. Zhao Xing's more than 100 houses can be lived in even if they live in a company. But such a house is indeed not of grades.

According to the customs of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Xing needed at least one hundred servants to take care of more than 100 houses. In this regard, the servants he hired, no, the yard, were obviously not level enough.

After Zhou Bangyan left the capital, Zhou Bangshi became a homeless person. The temple he lived in was not far from Zhao Xing's house. When he saw Zhou Bangyan off, Zhao Xing invited him to move into his home, but Zhou Bangshi believed that Zhao Xing had too wide a friend and had everyone in the house, but there were not a single member of the New Party, so it was not appropriate for him to move in.

The two were discussing in a low voice, while Zhao Xing was still persuading. A shout from the imperial city followed by three drums, and the gate of the palace slowly opened. The officials began to enter one after another, and these new imperial examination candidates were introduced to the main hall of the Ministry of Rites by officials of the Ministry of Rites, waiting for the emperor's summons.

There are many halls in the palace, each hall has its own special purpose. The emperor's daily task is to move around in several halls. Discussing political affairs in one hall, receiving foreign guests in one hall, receiving court officials and foreign ministers in one hall, and the main hall that receives imperial examination candidates is called "Jiying Hall".

It was noon and the candidates were hungry. The discussion in the court had not yet ended. Many people were so hungry that they were dizzy. Some people took out snacks from their sleeves and chewed them secretly. Zhao Xing pulled Zhou Bang style and stuffed something into his sleeve.

"What?" Zhou Bangshi didn't dare to move around. He groped in his sleeves and asked Zhao Xing whispered.

Zhao Xing chewed things in his mouth and responded vaguely: "Just jerky is delicious... I am big and can't stand hunger. I always keep such things with me. I'm about to eat them. I'll go to the palace later, but I won't have a chance."

A handsome man next to Zhou Bangshi came up and said gracefully: "Give me some, is there any more? In the Xia Jianshi Zhan Miao, whose name is Qizhi, this brother Nian is noble? What do you call him?"

Zhao Xing and Zhou Bangshi quickly became famous with each other and stuffed this guy a big piece of jerky. Several people's lips squirmed, and the fragrance of jerky caused a spitting sound around them. Several students came up quietly and asked Zhao Xing for jerky. Zhao Xing slapped his hands: "No more, bring food into the palace, how many can you bring - only three pieces, three of me, one piece of each. Sorry!"

Zhou Bangshi heard that it was gone. He was worried that others would ask him for it, so he speeded up his chewing. He choked and was coughing. Zhao Xing lifted him up, patted his back, and stuffed a small tube into his mouth.

It turned out to be a light wine. Zhou Bangshi remembered that it was Langshi wine. He took a few sips, looked at Zhao Xing in surprise, and asked Zhao Xing how he did it with his eyes. Zhao Xing patted his wide belt, and there was a slight sound of water in the belt.

Zhan Miao heard the sound of water and came over: "Where is water? I heard the sound of water. I am so thirsty."

Zhao Xing raised Zhan Miao and pretended to pat his back, as if he was also relieving his cough. With the help of his body, he put his hand on the skin tube and stuffed it into his mouth.

Zhan Miao sucked light wine violently, and Zhao Xing's face, which was originally smiling, gradually became stiff - this guy was a greedy person. Zhou Bangshi only took a few sips, and he vomited out the hose after quenching his hunger and thirst, but this person was not at all self-conscious. Zhao Xing didn't speak, so he kept drinking, while drinking, looking away, for fear that Zhao Xing would wink him and ask him to stop.

Zhao Xing didn't persuade him, he just wanted to see how much this person could drink.

Wait and wait, until there was no drop of water bag left on his waist, Zhan Miao sucked the tube and then relaxed the tube without looking at it, and stood back to the queue.

Zhou Bangshi was unhappy: "How could this guy do this? He didn't even say thank you?"

Zhao Xing shook his head gently to stop Zhou Bang's low scolding.

People who like to take advantage of a small advantage have a habit - after taking advantage of a small advantage, they are afraid that others will ask for rewards, so they will look for the other party’s small mistakes and try to slander them desperately in order to get rid of the sense of benefit. Therefore, giving small advantages to people who like to take advantage of a small advantage is a kind of act of making enemies. Zhao Xing has begun to regret paying attention to this person, but he knows that the other party has taken advantage of it and is waiting for the opportunity to insult and slander. At this time, as long as the attitude is a little contemptuous, the other party who is angry will record this hatred. It may not happen at that time, and it will inevitably find fault afterwards.

The waiter in the main hall of the Ministry of Rites was not summoned until the afternoon. Under the guidance of the official Xuanli, they entered Jiying Hall and sat on the ground. The officials of the Ministry of Rites then placed a small table next to each person, putting on pens, ink, paper and ink, and the palace examination began.

Everyone began to answer the questions with fear and fear. As soon as Zhao Xing and other eunuchs blocked his sight left, he first looked at the hall with an excited expression. There were two chairs on the hall, and an old lady sat there majestic, surrounded by a group of imperial officials in purple. Another chair in the hall faced him, but when the court ministers stood, they all faced the lady with their butt towards the chair.

The chair was sitting on a child, which was His Majesty Zhezong, who was slapped by Zhao Xing. In ancient times, there were no windows and the depths of the hall seemed a little dim, but Zhao Xing still discovered that when he looked at the child, Zhezong, who was serious with a stern face, suddenly squeezed his eyes at him.

The palace examination was over, and then the eunuchs arranged a simple meal, and there was a pot of wine in front of each student - this was the legendary Qionglin Banquet, which was the highest expectation of cultural people in their lives. The candidates rush to eat a few bites of food to cope with their hungry stomachs.

Many years later, Zhao Xing met the real Qionglin Yan. Only then did he realize that he was fooled by the court at that time...

Among all the candidates, Zhou Bangshi, Zhan Miao and Zhao Xing ate the most elegant. These three people were full of wine and food, so naturally they did not eat voraciously. Among them, the posture of Zhan Miao was the most pleasing to the eye. His every move revealed the teachings of the aristocratic families. Even when Zhao Xing saw it, he secretly stopped himself and felt ashamed of himself.

The candidates were having a meal, and the officials present were discussing the candidates' papers. After all, there were only more than 100 copies. Most of the Chinese-style discussions were pretending and had reached basic intentions in advance. The discussion was just for everyone to see and then announce.

After eating a few bites of food, Zhao Xing looked at Zhezong again and found that the child was nodded slightly without being noticed. He turned his eyes away so as not torture the child. When he looked to the other side, he found that Empress Dowager Gao, who was sitting on the chair, was looking at the three of them. Her eyes were on Zhan Miao for the longest time, and Zhan Miao had obviously noticed this kind of gaze. He showed the most charming smile and his posture was more elegant.

After a while, the debate among the court officials had stopped. The list was presented to Empress Dowager Gao. Empress Dowager Gao pointed at Zhan Miao with a pen, and someone immediately handed over a paper. It was probably Zhan Miao's paper.

After reading Zhan Miao's paper, Empress Dowager Gao pointed his pen at Zhao Xing again. Zhao Xing found that she pointed at her because Su Shi quickly stood up and pointed at Zhao Xing to make a statement in a low voice. Empress Dowager Gao ignored him, but when she saw Zhao Xing's paper, she immediately laughed. She immediately handed the paper to Su Shi, probably because she said a few words of teasing, which made Su Shi blush and embarrassed.

They must be talking about the poor writing of Zhao Xing. Su Shi's calligraphy was from the four masters of the Northern Song Dynasty. His disciples actually wrote a shameful ugly character. No wonder Empress Dowager Gao wanted to make fun of him.

The officials of the court all chuckled. When they smiled, their butts were all aimed at Zhezong, and they had no interest in introducing them to him at all. Zhezong's face was expressionless. Then Empress Dowager Gao picked up the pen, changed several rankings, and handed the list to the eunuch, who handed it to Zhezong. Empress Dowager Gao asked: "Official family, what do you mean?"

Zhezong glanced at the list, and didn't even have the interest to pick it up. He lowered his eyes and replied: "The Grandmaster means what I mean, I have no objection."

The provincial and ministerial examinations and palace examinations are just one form. After this form, the emperor personally selected them, so the students have no teachers, and their teachers can only be the emperor, so the Jinshi are called "son of the emperor".

This list has not changed much from the order of the provincial and ministerial tests. The only adjustment is Zhao Xing's ranking. Because this name falls at the end of the list, it really embarrasses the Zhao royal family, but his ugly word makes him unable to sit on the throne of the top scorer. So he was adjusted from the third list to the inconspicuous second list and became "Birth of a Jinshi".

The eunuchs ran out with high rankings, and this list was posted on Xuande Tower, which was announced to the whole world. The top scorer was Zhan Miao, the second-largest person, and the name of Tanhua Zhao Xing was not recorded. He was already very satisfied with being the second-ranked Jinshi. Then, the famous "Ranger" program of the Song Dynasty was staged, and the Zhao Song royal family set an example and started to rob the kiss first - they had this advantage.

Empress Dowager Gao on the throne asked Zhan Miao with a smile: "Have Zhan Zhuangyuan ever married?"

Zhan Miao's answer was loud: "Never!"

"Okay!" Empress Dowager Gao smiled: "I have a daughter waiting to marry, and she happened to be worthy of Zhan Zhuangyuan. If someone comes, please come and ask the county lord to go to the hall."

This princess awarded the name of a county, so she was called the county lord. Lezhi County Lord had obviously been waiting outside the hall. As soon as the summoning voice fell, she walked into the hall under the guidance of the palace maid. Feng Guanxia criticized her and dressed in colorful clothes, making the hall seem much brighter. Zhan Miao was originally looking at the county lord entering the hall with anticipation, but when the county lord passed by him, his face changed and his face was gloomy.

"Zhan Zhuangyuan, my little girl looks beautiful, are you satisfied?" Empress Dowager Gao asked with a smile on the throne, her face smiling and her eyes almost narrowed.

Zhan Miao bowed and replied: "I dare not obey the order."

There was a sudden uproar in the hall.

This is based on marriage, where is the royal face?

Empress Dowager Gao was still laughing, but there was a little cold smell in her smile. She asked calmly: "Why... can't the Ai family afford a dowry?"

Zhan Miaoanran replied: "The county lord Lezhi is already pregnant, and the subordinates dare not marry him."
Chapter completed!