I live in the mountains and often see tigers, but today I meet the Emperor and finally see his majestic face!
Huang Jin, who was serving beside Jiajing, deeply remembered the young man who bowed his head and played the game in the hall just by hearing these words!
Huang Jin had been serving Emperor Jiajing since he was still the prince of Prince Xingxian. Up to now, he has been serving Emperor Jiajing for nearly forty years. He had seen many high-ranking and low-ranking officials around Emperor Jiajing, but there were only a handful of them who left such a deep impression on him at first sight like this young man.
This boy is extraordinary.
While Huang Jin was still looking at Zhu Ping'an, Emperor Jiajing and Zhu Ping'an had several more rounds of conversations, mostly Jiajing asked questions and Zhu Ping'an answered. Emperor Jiajing's questions were all very common, asking about the scene in the mountain village, asking about Zhu Ping'an's age, and asking about the current affairs policy of the palace examination again.
Zhu Ping'an also answered them one by one, his speech was clear, at a moderate speed, logical and full of vigor.
"It's great to be young. I also came to the capital when I was your age." After listening to Zhu Ping'an's report, Emperor Jiajing sighed and continued, "Although you are young, you should also have lofty ambitions. In the future, you should learn more, observe more, and do more."
"I will follow your Majesty's instructions."
Zhu Pingan was "excited" by the Emperor Jiajing's exhortation and bowed again. At this point, the interview should be over, Zhu Pingan thought.
When Zhu Ping'an thought the interview was over, he unexpectedly got another surprise. After asking the questions, Emperor Jiajing waved his hand and asked a young eunuch serving beside him to bring a tray covered with red cloth and directly to Zhu Ping'an. On the tray were gold-carved golden roosters, goldfish, golden pigs, golden cows, golden ducks and other items.
These golden roosters, golden bulls and other objects are not big, only about one finger in size, and are flat. They are estimated to weigh only about two taels, but they are carved very finely and look lifelike.
"You are all excellent. I am not stingy with rewards. Please choose one of them as a reward." Emperor Jiajing sat on the dragon throne and waved to Zhu Ping'an.
Well
After all this time, you're only allowed to choose one. I was wondering why Emperor Jiajing suddenly became so generous. Zhu Ping'an complained in his heart, but his face was full of gratitude and an expression of honor to his ancestors.
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your reward." Zhu Ping'an knelt down and saluted.
"Don't be so polite, my dear minister." Emperor Jiajing waved his hand, signaling Zhu Ping'an to stand up and choose the reward.
Zhu Pingan knelt down to thank Jiajing and stood up again. He said thank you to the eunuch holding the tray, and then he was about to pick a bigger one. The moment he stretched out his hand, he suddenly realized that the reward from Emperor Jiajing should not be so simple. This was probably the last interview question.
Golden rooster, goldfish, golden pig, golden bull, golden duck... Emperor Jiajing asked people to choose one at random, but these things are definitely not something that can be chosen casually.
Choose a goldfish? The goldfish is carved from gold. The original is a carp, lifelike. A carp jumps over the Dragon Gate. It is a good omen to choose a carp. Legend has it that there is a towering Dragon Gate in the east of the river. Every spring, carps swim hard to it. Swimming upstream, a carp that jumps over the Dragon Gate can turn into a dragon. It is also generally used to refer to good test scores and being at the top of the high school list.
Choosing golden carp would be the most appropriate choice.
However, when Zhu Ping'an reached out to the goldfish, he saw the little eunuch holding the tray and blinked slightly.
Then, Zhu Pingan stopped and suddenly realized, "It's not that simple! It's really not that simple!"
Carp jumps over the Dragon Gate, carp jumps over the Dragon Gate and turns into a dragon, dragon. What do you want to do by turning into a dragon? Don’t you know that Emperor Jiajing is the only real dragon? Then Zhu Pingan thought of the curse in the heart of Emperor Jiajing that made him feel cold and frightened, as recorded in history - two dragons cannot meet!
Emperor Jiajing was a rare figure in the history of the Ming Dynasty. After he knew about the so-called curse of two dragons not meeting, he carried it out throughout his life!
In the thirteenth year of Emperor Jiajing's reign, after thirteen years of fighting on his bed, well, maybe the battlefield was somewhere else, but in this year Emperor Jiajing finally welcomed his first son, but unfortunately, the eldest son died less than three months after birth. Emperor Jiajing was extremely sad, and at this time, Tao Zhongwen, the most trusted first heavenly master of Emperor Jiajing, reported the curse of "two dragons cannot meet" to Emperor Jiajing.
Your Majesty, you are the only true dragon in the world, blessed with destiny and luck, the true son of heaven, and your Majesty's son is also a dragon son. However, two dragons cannot meet, your Majesty is the true son of heaven, the true dragon of destiny and luck, there is no room for two tigers in a mountain, and there is no room for two dragons in a side. Your Majesty is blessed by heaven, and all the princes are not as good as your Majesty. When two dragons meet, one will be injured!
After hearing what Tao Zhongwen said, Emperor Jiajing broke out in a cold sweat on the spot.
Three years later, Emperor Jiajing had princes Zhu Zaihe, Zhu Zaihou, Zhu Zaizhen and others. However, Emperor Jiajing always kept in mind the curse of "two dragons never meet". The scene of the eldest prince's death was always in front of his eyes, so Emperor Jiajing never met these three princes, and did not dare to appoint him as the crown prince, for fear of any accidents.
What Emperor Jiajing did seemed ridiculous to outsiders. The court officials were talking about it. Emperor Jiajing's mother couldn't stand it anymore and took Emperor Jiajing to teach him a lesson for a long time. Unable to bear the Queen Mother's teaching, Emperor Jiajing had to meet the eldest prince Zhu Zaihe, chat with him, and send him to school. Zhu Zaihe was 14 years old. This was almost the first time he met his father. He was very excited. However, things are so coincidental.
That night, the second prince Zhu Zaihe fell ill. A few days later, the second prince also went to find his eldest brother.
Emperor Jiajing was almost frightened to death, and he dared not break the curse of "two dragons never meet". He did not even look at his two surviving sons, Prince Yu Zhu Zaihou and Prince Jing Zhu Zaizhen. Even if he saw them in the palace or if there was some important etiquette that required him to see them, he would not say a word.
Now if you choose the golden carp, do you want the carp to leap over the Dragon Gate and turn into a dragon
You turn into a dragon, and I, Jiajing, am also a dragon.
What are you doing? Don’t you know that two dragons should not meet each other? Do you think that I, Jiajing, am living too well? You are interested in me!
Don't say that Zhu Ping'an thinks too much. It's normal for Emperor Jiajing, who practices Taoism and alchemy, to have hallucinations due to heavy metal poisoning all day long. Moreover, Emperor Jiajing himself is a mysterious person. People who practice Taoism and alchemy care too much!
It is better to believe it exists than to believe it does not!
When Zhu Ping'an thought of this, his hand passed over the golden carp, passed over normally, landed on the golden rooster on the side, and then took it in his hand.
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your reward."
Zhu Ping'an held the golden rooster in both hands and knelt on the ground to thank Emperor Jiajing.
Oh, it’s the Golden Rooster.
Huang Jin, who was serving beside Emperor Jiajing, was amazed. Zhu Ping'an's choice was beyond his expectation. All those who had been summoned before had chosen the golden carp. Was this young man doing it on purpose or unintentionally? If it was unintentional, then this young man was very lucky; if it was intentional, then this young man was really extraordinary.
"Oh, my dear, why did you choose the Golden Rooster?" Emperor Jiajing nodded while sitting on the dragon throne and asked slowly. He was very satisfied with Zhu Ping'an's choice but also very curious.
It is not an accidental act, and I certainly did not choose it randomly. This is also something I have thought about carefully. Emperor Jiajing, you practice Taoism and believe in Taoism. It just so happens that I have read a lot of fairy tales in modern times, and I have also looked up some information about Taoism. Taoism has different feelings for all kinds of beasts and birds in the world, and the deepest feelings for chickens. Didn’t the founder of Taoism leave behind a saying that "chickens and dogs ascend to heaven"? In addition, after Taoism became a sect, the first few popes had deep feelings for chickens. It is said that a pope was in danger when he was getting rid of ghosts, and he was saved by a rooster. When the pope fought with the ghosts for several days, he was exhausted and in danger. Fortunately, the rooster sang loudly, and the crowing of the rooster called the sunrise, helping the pope to eliminate the ghosts.
In addition, the fish admired by Taoism is the scaleless fish - mullet, not carp.
Taoists will never eat this kind of mullet. In the eyes of ordinary people, mullet is very hateful, because after the mother mullet reproduces and gives birth to baby mullets, she will eat some of the baby mullets she gave birth to. Even a tiger will not eat its own cubs, but you gave birth to baby mullets and ate them raw. This is extremely hateful and abominable, so ordinary people despise and hate mullets to the extreme.
But this is not the case in the eyes of Taoists. They appreciate blackfish. Perhaps everyone will wonder how they can reverse the verdict on the blackfish eating its offspring
Yes, that's right, they not only overturned the verdict, but also elevated it to a very high level.
In the eyes of Taoists, mullet is like this: when the female mullet reaches the spawning period, she will be pregnant for several months, exhausting her energy and giving every bit of nutrition in her body to the little mullet in her belly. In order to lay eggs, she uses the last bit of her body strength to produce the little mullet. After giving birth, the female mullet is like a spring silkworm that has run out of silk and a candle that has turned into ashes. She has exhausted all her energy and her eyes can no longer see anything. Having completed her mission, she waits to starve to death. What a great mother, what a great maternal love, but even greater is filial piety, the filial piety of the little mullet. The female mullet has exhausted her energy and the last bit of her energy to give birth, and can only wait to starve to death. However, the little mullet are the most filial. They would rather swim into the mother mullet's mouth and use their tender bodies to feed the mother mullet. They would rather use their own bodies than let the mother mullet starve to death.
What kind of spirit is this? Crows repay their parents and lambs kneel to suckle their mothers, but what are they compared to this blackfish feeding mother
Therefore, Taoism elevates the blackfish to the level of extreme filial piety, the embodiment of filial piety.
So, they admire mullet, not carp!
Therefore, Zhu Pingan chose the golden rooster instead of the golden carp. (To be continued.)