The so-called "taking millet into prison" in Chapter 131 , as the name suggests, means donating rice and millet (money and food) to the court to obtain the qualifications of a prison prisoner.
Jiansheng are students of the Imperial College. In the Ming Dynasty, Imperial Colleges were established in both northern and southern Zhili.
Li Jia, the male protagonist in Du Shiniang's Angry Treasure Box, was a prison student who accepted millet into prison. Therefore, Li Jia, a scholar, immediately hesitated when he heard that his family did not allow him to take Du Shiniang back. Person A is a kid from a rich family who relied on his family to buy his diploma. After his family threatened to cut off the debt, he naturally gave up on love.
In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Imperial College students were very valuable. After completing their studies as Imperial College students, they could be directly appointed as officials. At that time, many famous ministers were Imperial College students.
But in today's era, if the Jinshi degree is not high enough, you can only be a county magistrate, and the status of a supervisor has dropped a lot. Even if you are successful, you can only be awarded an academic officer like Hai Rui.
However, there is another advantage for prison students. As long as they enter the prison, they will automatically be qualified for the provincial examination and there is no need to take the boy examination.
To put it bluntly, this is to donate your reputation as a scholar.
In the Ming Dynasty, the introduction of millet into prisons began in the Jingtai Dynasty. In order to "study abroad" in Wala, the Mingbao Zong began to take millet into prisons to raise military expenses.
Later, when the Wanli year came to aid the DPRK and fight against the Japanese, Emperor Wanli of the Ming Dynasty also reopened the policy of accepting millet into prison. By the time Emperor Chongzhen of the late Ming Dynasty, not to mention accepting grain into prison, as long as he donated money to the court, he could directly Become an official.
Su Ze said seriously: "Thank you Brother Lin for the news, but sending millet to prison is not the right way to take the imperial examination, and I won't do it."
Lin Qingyuan looked at Su Ze with envy. This sentence can only be said by a scholar like Su Ze. If you tell me, someone like him who has become an official will no longer be able to take part in the imperial examination.
Of course, Su Ze would not go to the Imperial College to put him in prison. First, if he wanted to put him in prison, he would have to "sit in prison", that is, go to the Imperial College in the North and South Zhili to go to school.
Then if you were imprisoned in North and South Zhili, you would have to take the imperial examination in North and South Zhili.
If the provincial examination in Fujian is the most difficult test, then the rural examination in Zhili in the north and south is the most difficult test in the world.
Southern Zhili is the largest examination area in the country, including Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang and other popular places for imperial examinations. Su Ze went crazy to go to Southern Zhili and these imperial examination candidates.
Moreover, Su Ze was preparing to rebel. Why would anyone go to North and South Zhili to prepare for rebellion?
However, the imperial court allowed grain to be admitted into prison, indicating that the financial problems of the Ming Dynasty were serious again.
After saying goodbye to Lin Qingyuan, Su Ze led Ma Xian to the editorial department of "Surprise".
Chen Chaoyuan and Lin Qingcai were indeed there. They were sitting behind a table, painfully opening the submissions from Nanping County.
Su Ze opened the door and came in. Chen Chaoyuan and Lin Qingcai immediately expressed their bitterness.
"Brother Su, do you have the latest article? Let us two wash our eyes?"
Su Ze smiled slightly and looked at the basket full of submissions. Sure enough, "The Surprise" attracted submissions from all the scholars in Nanping County.
Su Ze hurriedly said to the two of them: "Thank you for your hard work! School is over today. I invite you to go to Yueyuelou to relax!" Chen Chaoyuan took out a
book box, handed it to Su Ze and said, "This is my second Brother Su, please take a look at the readable articles that I finally picked out."
Su Ze opened the book box, and there were a total of three articles in it.
Two of them are ghost stories modeled after Su Ze's "Liao Zhai". Their quality is quite satisfactory, and it is enough to be published in "Pai An Surprise".
Another article aroused Su Ze's interest. It told the story of a woman who disguised herself as a man to participate in the imperial examination and became the top scholar in high school.
Isn't this "The Female Champion"? Su Ze continued to read, and the ending was different from the ending of Xu Wenchang's "The Female Champion". The identity of the female champion was revealed, and the emperor wanted to punish her. Then the female champion angrily criticized the undergraduate scholar for being inferior to a woman, and then committed suicide. die.
interesting.
Su Ze saw that the handwriting of this submission was elegant, but there was no signature.
"Why are there still unsigned articles?"
Lin Qingcai said: "There are many such articles. They may be famous people in the city. They were afraid of being rejected and were embarrassed, so they were anonymous."
Su Ze thought for a while and said: ""Surprised by the Case" "You can't publish all ghost stories, just this one, "Female Number One Scholar," and save the other ghost story for the next issue."
Su Ze selected the article, and then the three of them walked to the county school together.
As he walked away, Chen Chaoyuan said: "Brother Su, we need to print more this time. In the past few days, apart from the people who came to the editorial department to submit articles, they also requested more copies. Last time, all 300 copies of "The Surprise" were sold out in less than half a day. , even Brother Lin and I couldn't buy it."
Su Ze asked doubtfully: "Are there so many scholars in the city?"
Chen Chaoyuan said: "The story of "The Surprise" can be understood by anyone who can read, not just by scholars. Ordinary people will pool their money together to buy a copy and go back to read it. In addition, I heard that several surrounding counties have also heard of the reputation of "Surprise". Some wealthy families have sent people to Nanping County to buy newspapers, and there are also businessmen selling newspapers to Go to other counties."
Su Ze also didn't expect that "Surprise" would be so influential, but this was good news for him.
After Su Ze's research, he had a rough understanding of the art of literature.
The dissemination of an article, from "little literary fame" to "rising fame" to "famous", you can get corresponding experience rewards at each stage of dissemination.
In other words, the more widely Su Ze's "Surprise" is spread, and the more people praise it in the above article, the faster Su Ze can gain experience.
Su Ze secretly had a new idea. Since there are businessmen who are willing to sell the crime-fighting surprise to other counties, Su Ze can directly discuss cooperation with them, print more newspapers and sell them to them, and let them sell newspapers directly in other counties. .
I need to talk to Lin Xianliang from the bookstore about this. Su Ze took note of this and entered the county school with Chen Lin.
After passing the Lingxing Gate, Lin Qingcai said in a low voice: "Brother Su, have you heard? The court is going to let people enter the prison." Su Ze nodded and
said, "When I entered the city, I met Brother Lin's clan brother. He has already You told me."
Chen Chaoyuan was a little moved. He is an old boy who has been taking the exam for many years. He is obsessed with scholarly fame, so being admitted to prison is one way to do it.
Lin Qingcai sighed and said: "I still advise Brother Su not to take this road. Although there is no county test to admit grain into prison, the rural test in Nanzhili is more difficult. Brother Su's talent can be used to become a Jinshi, but it is not necessary. Take such a shortcut."
Su Ze smiled and said: "With so many things going on in the guardhouse, there is no way I would go to the Imperial College to study." As they
spoke, the three of them arrived at the dormitory. This time, Xiong Yue hadn't come yet. go to school.
The three of them were a little worried when they saw Hai Rui push the door open and come in and say,
"Xiong Yue's mother is sick, and he is serving her at home."
Su Ze quickly asked, "Teacher, is Xiong Yue's mother's illness serious?"
Hai Rui shook his head. Said: "Xiong Yue just sent a fellow villager to the county to take a leave of absence, and did not specifically mention his mother's condition."
Everyone sighed again. Xiong Yue was originally the richest among the four. His family had a tea garden at the foot of Wuyi Mountain. , there are many hired tea farmers in the family, and they are considered to be rich peasants and small landowners.
But things are unpredictable. First, the court wanted to increase the amount of tea offered, and then the court changed the tribute to silver, and his family was allocated more silver. Now his mother is sick again, and he has suddenly fallen from the rich peasant class. This is how the peasants of the Ming Dynasty were wiped out. A grain of ashes from the imperial court fell on the heads of these rich peasants, which was the result of bankruptcy. By the time of the Jiajing period, natural and man-made disasters continued, and there were victims even near the capital. The entire dynasty had reached a precarious stage. situation.
Hai Rui sighed and said, "Let's continue with the class."
When they got to class, Hai Rui also talked about the matter of enrolling grain in prison. He said seriously:
"Admitting grain to prison is not the right way to take the imperial examination. Your level is good. It is not difficult to become a scholar in school, there is no need to take such a crooked path."
As a scholar, Hai Rui hated having Su imprisoned.
This not only violated the rights of scholars, but also made the Imperial College even more mixed.
Originally, the Imperial College was also a legitimate path to becoming an official, but now serious scholars are no longer willing to study in prison, and the Imperial College has become a gathering place for dandies.
Moreover, admitting millet into prison also violated the interests of students from poor families. After the Imperial College expanded its enrollment, more people took part in the provincial examination. Scandals involving cheating in the provincial examination have frequently broken out in recent years.
Any system is implemented by people. As long as the human element is retained, the system will always have loopholes.
Hai Rui just hoped that the imperial court would send an upright minister to preside over the provincial examination in Nanzhili this year, but he would not let anything go wrong again.
However, Hai Rui quickly regained his composure and started giving lectures to the three of them.
[Listen in class, imperial examination skill experience +24, Lv5, 112/1000]
[Listen in class, imperial examination skill experience +23, Lv5, 135/1000]
Nowadays, Su Ze studies at home on weekdays, and can increase his imperial examination skill by 12-15 points a day. .
Studying at the county school in one day can increase your imperial examination skills by nearly 50 points.
Then you can gain more than 400 points of imperial examination skills in a month.
However, upgrading from Lv5 to Lv10 requires 15,000 experience points, which would take three years if converted.
The speed is still too slow. Next year will be the year of the provincial examination. Do we have to wait for the next provincial examination?
Still have to think of a way.
Now Su Ze has only two ways. One is to increase the intelligence attribute points and improve the efficiency of the liver examination skills.
If you can have twice the intelligence attribute, it will only take a year and a half to improve your imperial examination skills to Lv10.
The other thing is to participate in activities related to the imperial examination. For example, the last time Baizhi County asked questions on his own in the county school, Su Ze gained a lot of experience in the imperial examination.
By completing activities related to the imperial examination and reading books related to the imperial examination, you can also gain additional experience in imperial examination skills.
Feeling that he didn't have enough time again, Su Ze decided to go to the Yu family's bookstore to see if there were any good reference books for the imperial examination, and to think of ways to gain extra experience.
The next day was still homework. Hai Rui corrected the eight-legged essay written by the three of them at home. He once again used Su Ze's article as a model essay and explained the ideas for solving the problem and the format requirements of the eight-part essay.
After finishing the class, Su Ze had to attend Yu Gongzi's mother's birthday on July 16th, so he continued to stay at the county school for one day.
"Dad, I want to go too!"
Fang Ruolan protested to Magistrate Fang in dissatisfaction, which frightened Magistrate Fang and almost threw the herbal tea in his hand.
"Nonsense! It's the birthday of the commander's wife, why are you joining in the fun!"
Magistrate Fang couldn't resist his daughter, but Mrs. Li had the ability to suppress blood, so she refuted her daughter.
Fang Ruolan immediately said: "I can dress up as a man!"
Mrs. Li scolded: "When you get married, you can go anywhere!"
Fang Ruolan's momentum was relieved. The etiquette of the Ming Dynasty was very strict for women who had not left the court. Seriously, a lady from an official family like her has to pay more attention to her reputation.
But for married women, they can participate in various activities, and there are even many women in Fujian who show up to do business.
When Magistrate Fang saw that his daughter was exhausted, he couldn't bear to get up. He said, "I haven't seen you clamoring to go out on weekdays. Why do you have to go this time?" Fang Ruolan told the truth: "My daughter heard that this time the commander
made his wife On my birthday, the Yu family drama troupe will perform a new play."
So that's it.
The prefect suddenly understood that in the past few days, Yu Zongyuan had been promoting in the county town that his troupe had arranged a new play, which was a hundred times more exciting than Mr. Tuohu's troupe, and it whetted the appetite of the people in the county.
Originally, the reputation of the Yu family was so bad that many officials in the county were not prepared to celebrate their birthdays in person. As long as they gave birthday gifts, it was considered a thoughtful gesture.
But when they heard about the new play from the Yu family's theater troupe, many ladies were eager to get involved. There were only a few entertainment activities these days, and they had heard the new play from Mr. Tuohu's family theater troupe several times.
Magistrate Fang stroked his beard and said, "I heard that Chang Ning Wei Su Ze arranged the play for the Yu family troupe himself. He should also have written the script for this new play." Mrs. Li had also heard of
Su Ze's reputation. She asked "It's the Su Ze who wrote "Du Shiniang"."
Magistrate Fang nodded, and Mrs. Li added: "It's a pity that he has no fame, but he is just a scholar."
After saying that, Mrs. Li glanced at her daughter.
When she raised her younger brother, her family was also very poor, but she had no requirements for her son-in-law's family background.
On the contrary, Mrs. Li was also influenced by her younger brother and believed that those big families were mostly fake Taoists with strict rules, and her daughter would suffer if she really married into a big family.
However, it is impossible for a daughter of a dignified prefect to marry a poor scholar with no fame.
Magistrate Fang felt that his blood pressure was high again: "Can Su Ze win the imperial examination at this age? If he can pass the provincial examination next year, he will definitely be a Jinshi in the future! Those who want to marry him in the city can go to Fuzhou City!" Said before
! "Jinshi at the age of fifty", no matter what era it is, those who can pass the examination before the age of thirty are regarded as young and promising.
(Zhang Juzheng is an exception for perverts like
Zhang Juzheng who won the imperial examination at the age of 23.) According to the household registration registered by Chang Ningwei to Su Ze, he is now 22 years old, and he will be 23 next year. If he can win the imperial examination at the age of 23, he will definitely be He was rushed to get married by the dignitaries of Yanping Mansion.
Hearing that her daughter was here to listen to the opera, Mrs. Li's tone softened. She said, "You pretend to be my maid, and don't do anything inappropriate when you get to the Yu family!" Fang Ruolan knew that her old father had no say at home, and
Li Madam's words were the final word, and she immediately said: "Thank you, mother!"
I forgot the title...
the title was "Nasting Su into Prison, Sorry"
(End of Chapter)