Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 146: Scholars boycotted the exam, which was regarded as treason!

Meet Gao Gong.

Zhang Juzheng directly showed the emperor's edict.

He took Hu Zongxian, Li Chunfang and Chen Yiqin back to the cabinet to continue discussing the details of the separation of military and political affairs.

Gao Gong was left standing in front of the gate of Yuxi Palace, stunned, unable to advance or retreat.

The late autumn night wind blew, and Gao Gong felt cold all over. It seemed that his body and soul were frozen.

At midnight, the Forbidden Gate was about to close, and the eunuch from the Imperial Household Department who was on duty with the Forbidden Guards invited Huang Jin.

"Lord." Huang Jin walked up to Gao Gong and called softly, "I didn't see you before, and now you are lingering in front of the palace gate. Do you have something to see His Majesty?"

Gao Gong came back to his senses, looked at Huang Jin, and said in a low voice, "Has the emperor rested?"

"Just took a break."

Huang Jin nodded and said, "If the Lord has any urgent business, I will go and wake up His Majesty."

"It's not a big deal. Please inform the Emperor tomorrow morning, Eunuch Huang, and tell him that I have been feeling unwell lately and will be taking a few days off." Gao Gong asked for leave.

After saying this, Gao Gong no longer walked as briskly as he did when he came. His body swayed from side to side, and he really looked like he was sick.

Huang Jin asked a few young eunuchs to follow him. When the elder was able to walk, they let him walk alone. When the elder really couldn't hold on, they would support him with one or two hands.

Once you leave the West Garden, you don’t have to worry about it. The elder has his own sedan chair.

After watching Gao Gong's back disappear, Huang Jin ordered the imperial guards to close the forbidden gate and the palace gate and return to the main hall.

Only a melodious sound of bronze chimes was heard from the temple, and Huang Jin hurriedly walked in.

"Why is Gao Gong standing in front of the palace gate?" Zhu Houcong asked while sitting on a cushion, holding a chime in his hand.

"Your Majesty, the elder said he was suddenly ill and asked for a few days' leave."

"Are you really sick, or are you mentally ill?"

"Your Majesty, he looks really sick, but the old man's brows are tightly knitted, and he doesn't speak with a frown, which seems to indicate that he is a little worried."

"After all, he is the second prime minister of the Ming Dynasty cabinet. Now that he is ill, we should send the imperial physician to visit him. Let Li Shizhen go to the second prime minister's residence tomorrow morning." Zhu Houcong bestowed his grace.

"Yes." Huang Jin took the order and made note of it.

……

Gao Gong reluctantly walked out of the West Garden alone.

Gao Fu, who was guarding in front of the sedan chair, hurried forward. Without helping the master first, he handed out a few pieces of silver to the eunuchs who were guarding the sedan chair.

The young eunuchs had received many benefits and a lot of money since they entered the palace, and they came from people of all ranks.

Following Huang Jin, he even accepted rewards from Zhang Juzheng, the chief minister of the cabinet, but he really didn't dare to accept the silver from Gao Gong.

The young eunuchs skillfully pushed away Gao Fu's hand that was handing over the silver, thanked him for his kindness with a forced smile, and almost ran away.

"Villain..."

Before Gao Gong could finish his scolding, his exhausted body could no longer hold on and he fell to the ground helplessly. Gao Fu was quick to catch the old man and prevented him from falling to the ground in such a miserable state.

He called the guards to half-help and half-lift Gao Gong back to the sedan chair, and hurried back home.

Let the attendants hurry up and invite the famous doctor in the capital to come to the house to see the master. As for the curfew, who dares to stop the carriage of the deputy prime minister?
As for the famous doctor taking a rest, that is even less of a problem. We cannot disturb the emperor's sweet dreams, but can we not disturb other people?

When Gao Gong returned to the mansion, he was almost unconscious, and the Minister of Justice Ge Shouli, who was waiting for news at the Deputy Prime Minister's residence, was so frightened that he almost fell down with his old friend.

Fortunately, the famous doctor had arrived earlier. He could tell at a glance that the patient was furious. While giving the patient acupuncture, he asked the medicine boy he brought to boil the medicine according to his instructions.

He is a national player, worthy of being a national player. After a few injections, Gao Gong woke up from a state of near coma. Although he was groggy and weak, it did not affect his speaking.

The national master knew that the deputy prime minister had something to say to the minister of justice, so after taking out the silver needle, he left the room.

"Su Qing." Ge Shouli stepped forward and saw that Gao Gong wanted to sit up, so he could only raise Gao Gong's body with a cushion so that he was half lying and half sitting.

Gao Gong took a few breaths and calmed his pounding heartbeat. "Yu Li (Ge Shouli's pen name), it's over. It's all over..."

Gao Gong recounted how he had just arrived at the gate of Yuxi Palace when he saw Zhang Juzheng and several others leaving the palace, and the content of the imperial edict to execute Confucius.

Now it was Ge Shouli's turn to get angry.

The issue of separation of military and political affairs had not been resolved yet, and then came the deprivation of the title of Duke of Yansheng, the permanent conferment of the Yansheng Palace, the beheading of Duke Yansheng, and even the ashes were to be scattered into the sea.

Grind the bones and scatter the ashes, grind the bones and scatter the ashes!

The most holy teacher is above.

How could the old emperor dare to do this?

Gao Gong, who had experienced a heart attack due to anger, saw that Ge Shouli was not in a good state and shouted repeatedly: "Yu Zheng! Yu Zheng! Yu Zheng!"

Ge Shouli bit his tongue, and the rusty taste of blood gradually brought him back to his senses. He did not follow in the footsteps of his old friend and lay down. Blood oozed from the corners of his mouth, and when he opened his mouth, both his upper and lower rows of teeth were stained with blood.

Scarlet mouth.

"Su Qing, you should rest more. I have something else to do, so I'll leave first." Ge Shouli turned and left.

The decisiveness in his words and actions made Gao Gong realize that his old friend might do something stupid. He kept calling Ge Shouli's name and struggled to get up from the bed, but he was too weak to do anything.

……

There is a Yanshou Street in the southern part of the capital, which runs parallel to the Qipan Street. On the west side of the northern entrance of the street is the Yanshou Temple, which was built in the Liao Dynasty and rebuilt during the Zhengtong period of the Qing Dynasty. Not far from the southwest corner of the temple is the Shandong Jinan Guild Hall. The guild halls began in the Qing Dynasty. Most of the guild halls in the capital were places where gentry from the same hometown and scholars taking the imperial examinations gathered.

Ge Shouli was the highest-ranking official from Shandong in Beijing, and thus became the head of the Jinan Guild Hall. He often invited people to gather here to talk about fellow-townsmen, and occasionally he would generously donate money to help his fellow townsmen solve their difficulties.

Ge Shouli enjoyed a very high reputation among the gentry and scholars who passed the imperial examinations in Shandong.

So, when Ge Shouli summoned his fellow townsmen who had come to Beijing early in preparation for the imperial examination the following spring, all the candidates who had taken the examination came.

Shandong has always been a province with a large number of candidates for the imperial examinations, with the number of candidates usually being around 2,000 to 3,000. If we have to wait a few more months, the huge Jinan Guild Hall may not even have enough seats.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, the Jinan Guild Hall was packed with people. Thousands of Shandong scholars dressed in blue robes gathered together, expressing their fellow-townsmen's feelings.

Countless servants in the guild shuttled between the private rooms and the lobby, carrying dishes and serving fine wine.

The atmosphere was lively and lively as people clinked glasses and chatted with each other.

Guo Siwei, the champion of Shandong provincial examination in the 32nd year of Jiajing, was a little drunk. He simply stood up and said, "When it comes to food, Shandong cuisine is the best. Those Jinling cuisine, Huaiyang cuisine, and Suzhou and Wuxi cuisine are all inferior to Shandong cuisine. Braised, stewed, fried, deep-fried, steamed, stir-fried... I just want to ask, who else is there?"

"Well said!" Countless Shandong scholars applauded.

The bustle in the lobby was fully seen by the Shandong officials in the private room upstairs. Ge Shouli picked up a piece of abalone and chewed it slowly, "People's hearts can be used!"

(End of this chapter)