Although the Imperial College has an open day every month, for example, when Yue Shanzhang of Zhaoming Academy and his party arrived in the capital, it was the Imperial College's open day and the Jiuzhang Hall was recruiting new students, so there were many people watching. But this time, the emperor issued an edict to invite four famous directors and Zhang Shou, a doctor of the Imperial College who has been in the limelight in recent years, to give lectures in the Ruxing Hall, which attracted even more attention.
This kind of lecture is completely different from the previous Imperial College open days!
Therefore, from the early morning of this day, the street where the Imperial College was located began to be crowded with people. Although it was not yet October, the candidates who were going to Beijing for the examination were far from all here - after all, many prefectures had just released the list of candidates, and the new candidates were still on the way even if they were going to Beijing by bus. The only ones who could come were those who had already achieved the title of Juren.
At this time, people gathered in groups of three or four, either according to their hometown or friendship, but the topic of discussion was not just today's lecture. Because in recent days, there have been too many things happening in the capital! During the chat, someone just mentioned that the emperor planned to let Zhao Guogong Zhu Jing be the Minister of War, which was really against the ancestral system, and was scolded by the people next to him.
"During Grandpa Taizu's time, there were many cases of military officers being transferred to civil service positions! Not to mention the Minister of War, a Confucian general close to Grandpa Taizu was also the Minister of Personnel, a high-ranking official! If you don't understand the ancestral system, don't talk nonsense and make people laugh at you!"
The one who was speaking out was none other than Fang Qing, who had the title of Juren and could not hold back and specially came to listen to this rare lecture. The one beside him who was still walking unsteadily was Juren Song, who had been hit on the buttocks by seven or eight whips and had not yet fully recovered.
Song Juren, who was always bad-mouthed, couldn't help but want to retort when he heard someone talking nonsense, but he didn't expect Fang Qing to beat him first. He didn't want to be outdone: "Don't talk about the ancestral system all the time. As long as you don't lead troops, even a Duke can be in charge of a ministry. As long as you lead troops, even a cabinet minister needs to be transferred to the military rank. There are precedents. Go back and read "Treasure Instructions of Taizu" carefully!"
The scholar who brought up this topic was caught off guard by the joint attack of Fang Qing and Song Juren. Although the others around him wanted to fight back, the four words "Taizu Baoxun" were too intimidating.
So, after a moment of silence, someone in the corner changed the subject: "By the way, have you heard about the recent colored cotton incident? It's ridiculous. Shouldn't all cotton in the world be white? What about brown cotton? I think it's not a good omen, but a bad omen. It's better to burn it!"
As soon as these words were spoken, two people echoed them. Mr. Song, who was indignant that Fang Qing had just beaten him to the punch, chuckled. However, Fang Qing, who was familiar with him, immediately heard the undisguised sarcasm in Song Hunzi's words.
"If you said it beforehand, you could say it was because of different political views and anger. But if you said it afterwards, in public, aren't you afraid that people would say you were in cahoots with the thieves? Besides, if you can pass the imperial examination and become a juren, you can't be someone who has never read the Ming Dynasty law, right? Don't you know what arson is?"