Meishan Su family, Su Yun is the most virtuous

Chapter 183 Appointed as Xuan Yi Lang!
Since family background is not important, what else do you value?

Sima Guang wrote in his commentary on Book of Rites: Receiving a Wedding: "Nowadays, the greedy people in the world, when they are about to marry a woman, first ask about the amount of dowry; when they are about to marry a daughter, first ask about the amount of betrothal gifts; as for signing a contract, they say: such and such things, such and such things..."

Wealth had replaced family background as the primary criterion for marriage among the Song people.

The same thing happened in the Southern Song Dynasty. When Li Guang, a famous official of the Southern Song Dynasty, was "happy" to have a daughter, his friends wrote to congratulate him.

Unexpectedly, Li Guang replied with a sad face: "I have five daughters. Now it's good that thieves will not come to 'patronize' me."

Therefore, people in the Song Dynasty preferred to have boys rather than girls, while the common people were most afraid of having daughters, and some even threw away and strangled their daughters to death.

However, although Su Yun was laughing, he had some ideas in his mind. He had to find an estate for his two uncles Su Shi and Su Zhe.

Needless to say, Su Che had three sons and five daughters, and when it came time for them to get married, he was very busy.

As for Su Shi...ha, buy him an estate and reserve it for use when he is exiled.

Well, let’s buy a few small courtyards for Su Mai and his brothers, so that they don’t have to borrow houses from others when they get married.

This is a true story. When Su Shi's son got married, Su Shi borrowed a house from his good friend Fan Zhen.

Well, Su Mai is not young anymore, and it’s time for him to get married. In the eighth year of Yuanfeng, Su Shi’s family will be back, and Ama will also get married by then, right?
When I have some free time in the future, I will prepare a yard for their family and a wedding house for Amai.

Ten days is enough to simplify the process again and again. It only requires completing the payment of money. As for the consultation period, which is the time for both parties to communicate about the marriage, it has not yet arrived.

Because choosing the time requires finding an auspicious day, you need to find someone to calculate it. After the calculation, the two parties will discuss it.

Well, to be able to reach this level in ten days is already extremely efficient.

However, this is a preliminary achievement of the goal.

Even if someone were to catch him as a son-in-law from the list now, he could still escape unscathed.

The results will be announced on April 20th.

As usual, Su Yun did not go to see the list, but waited at home. Ah Hui and others had already made all the preparations, including red envelopes to reward the person who brought the good news, copper coins to sweep the neighbors who had shared the good news, and various items for ancestor worship, etc.

Su Che's family and Zhang Dun's family came to Su Yun's house early to wait for news together. Everyone ate and drank happily.

At about eleven o'clock in the morning, there was a sudden sound of firecrackers outside. Ah Hui ran in madly, his face ecstatic, and shouted loudly: "Number one scholar! The young master is the number one scholar! The young master topped the list and is the number one scholar of this year's exam!"

The lobby suddenly became lively.

Zhang Ze's brothers and Su Che's children all cheered and jumped up.

Zhang Dun and Su Che looked at each other and saw the ecstasy in each other's eyes.

There is a psychological expectation to pass the imperial examination, but they still don’t dare to think about becoming the top scholar!

Three honors and one place in the imperial examination!
In the 120 years since the Song Dynasty, how many people have won the top three honors in the imperial examinations?

At most, there are only six people!
A rare genius appears once every twenty years!

Zhang Ruo felt a little overwhelmed: My Ah Yun has won the top three places in the imperial examination!

Although the results of the examination have not come out yet, it will only take a few days, and then she will become the wife of the number one scholar!

Although Zhang Ruo was unwilling to force Su Yun to make progress, which girl had not fantasized about her husband being a great hero?

In the Song Dynasty, the greatest hero was the one who called out names outside the Donghua Gate.

Zhang Ruo looked at Su Yun lovingly, but saw Su Yun smiling at her, and then he started chatting and laughing with Su Zhe and Zhang Dun.

Zhang Ze and others ran outside to see Ah Hui rewarding the person who brought the good news, while they went to scatter copper coins to share in the good fortune.

The lobby suddenly became quiet.

Su Yun stood up and straightened his clothes, then knelt down in front of Su Zhe and Zhang Dun, saying, "Thank you, uncles. Without your teachings, I wouldn't be here today!"

Su Che laughed and said, "It's fine if you call me uncle, but why do you call me Zihou?"

Su Yun knelt and looked up at Zhang Dun. Zhang Dun sat upright, stroking his beard, looking at him with satisfaction, smiled, kowtowed again, and said, "My son-in-law greets my father-in-law!"

Zhang Dun smiled and said, "Alright, alright, we are family, no need to be so polite, Ruo'er, help your husband up quickly."

Zhang Ruo hurried over to help Su Yun up. After that, she did not take her hands away and kept her body pressed tightly against Su Yun's arms.

When Zhang Dun saw his daughter's childish behavior, he did not feel angry, but rather very relieved: With such a son-in-law, how could the father-in-law not be satisfied!
It was right for Su Che to arrange the engagement immediately after the palace examination, because Su Yun became busy as soon as the results of the palace examination were announced.

The joy of passing the imperial examination was intense and lasting, and Su Yun felt it more clearly in the days that followed.

First, participate in the "period collection".

The so-called "Qi Ji" means that before being appointed as an official, the newly-successful Jinshi would gather together to hold some activities.

These activities were rich and varied, including paying respects to the emperor, ascending the yellow armor and meeting with peers, paying homage to the ancestors and saints, granting a banquet for hearing joy, compiling a small record of peers, erecting a tablet with inscriptions, etc. Then came the court-arranged events of granting green robes, boots and hu tablets, leading the emperor, paying respects to the emperor, granting a banquet for hearing joy, granting imperial poems, compiling a record of passing the imperial examinations, erecting a tablet with inscriptions, and granting official titles.

The tribute examination period in the Song Dynasty was quite grand, among which the most prominent ones were the ceremony of expressing gratitude in court, the banquet for hearing the joyful occasion, and the appointment of officials.

Originally, after the announcement of the imperial examination results in the Tang Dynasty, candidates were required to pay a visit to the prime minister first. This could easily lead to factionalism and factional strife. In the Song Dynasty, it was expressly forbidden for candidates to express their gratitude to the prime minister.

However, ironically, the Song Dynasty prohibited candidates from expressing their gratitude to the examiner, but factional strife was the worst in all dynasties.

After a series of activities, even Su Yun, who was physically strong, felt exhausted.

It's not that he couldn't bear it physically, the key point is that as the top scholar in the imperial examination, he was the center of almost every activity and had to deal with hundreds of people every day. Mentally he really couldn't bear it.

However, after he was released from prison and appointed as an official, the activities finally died down.

The greatest honor in the Song Dynasty's tribute examination was to be pardoned and granted an official position.

In the Tang Dynasty, after passing the Mingjing and Jinshi examinations, one only obtained the qualification to become an official but could not directly enter the government as an official.

One must go through the Personnel Ministry's selection examination and pass it before being granted an official position. One must take off one's coarse linen clothes and put on official uniform, which is the so-called "releasing the official robe and granting the official position."

Therefore, many scholars in the Tang Dynasty remained commoners many years after passing the imperial examinations and were unable to be appointed as officials. There were even some who had not received any official salary for twenty years.

For example, Han Yu, a great writer of his time, was such an unlucky guy.

In the eighth year of Zhenyuan, he passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi. However, because he failed the examination of the Ministry of Personnel, he was put on hold for three years and still had not entered the officialdom.

So in the eleventh year of Zhenyuan, he wrote to the prime minister three times to ask for an official position. He claimed that he was selected once after four attempts at the Ministry of Rites, and failed three times after three attempts at the Ministry of Personnel.

He hoped to get an official position through the recommendation of the prime minister of the time, but his three submissions were rejected by the prime minister.

He had no choice but to leave the capital Chang'an and work as a staff member under Dong Jin, the governor of Xuanwu Army. He was appointed as an observation official and then embarked on his official career.

Such a tragic experience would have been impossible in the Song Dynasty.

The early Song Dynasty inherited the rules of the Five Dynasties, but starting from the second year of Taiping Xingguo, those who had passed the imperial examinations, and those who had a good family background could be granted official positions without taking any imperial examinations.

According to convention, the first and second class Jinshi and those who had mastered the Nine Classics were appointed as the Chief of the Ministry of Works, the Judge of the Supreme Court, and the Magistrate of various states.

All the successful candidates from the same Jinshi and other subjects will be sent to the Ministry of Personnel, and the best ones will be exempted from selection and appointed to initial positions, such as judges of the Sibuwei.

During the Song Dynasty, officials selected through the imperial examination system were more practical, and most new scholars were sent to serve as officials outside the capital.

Those who perform poorly in the exam may become county magistrates;
Those who perform well in the exam can become prefectural magistrates.

The court appointed officials according to the customary practice. The second and third persons were appointed as Dali Pingshi and Tongpan of various states.

The fourth and fifth persons were appointed as proofreaders in the Secretariat and officials in the Judge's Office;

The first class below the sixth place will be granted the rank of two envoys. The second class will be granted junior rank.

The third and fourth classes were appointed as judges of the Sibuwei. The fifth class was selected and waited for appointment.

However, there was one exception, that was the newly crowned top scholar Su Yun, who was directly awarded the title of Xuanyi Lang (called Jiangzuo Jiancheng before the reform).

It looks different, but it is actually a common practice.

In the sixth year of Taizu's Kaibao reign, the palace examination system was established, and the official ranks awarded to successful candidates were raised.

Since there is a precedent, it is not considered an exception.

However, when it came to giving Su Yun specific tasks, some disputes occurred.

Zhao Xu didn't want Su Yun to go to the local area to serve as a judge. He wanted to keep him in the capital and give him an assignment in the capital.

The reason was naturally that he wanted Su Yun to enter Zishan Hall to teach his son.

But there was no precedent for this, so Zhao Xu called the chief official of the Menxia Province and asked him secretly, but he didn't expect that he would be directly countered.

Others also argued: "...It is customary for the top scholar to be the magistrate of various states. This is also the purpose of training Jinshi.

Letting them take the position of Tongpan first will allow them to not have to do any practical work first, but they can gain a lot of experience by supervising the prefects and constantly thinking about the duties of the chief officials.

When they are a little more mature, let them return to the court and let them observe the world's political affairs from the center of the court to broaden their horizons. This is a progress from the micro to the macro.

After they have broadened their horizons in the central government, they will be sent out to serve as chief officials. This cycle will be repeated over and over again, and the talent of prime ministers will be cultivated.

Your Majesty, you want to keep the top scholar in the capital. What kind of assignment can the capital give him?
What kind of assignment can make them grow quickly? Do they have to be put in a library to read and edit books?
This is the time when young people learn about government affairs. What could be learned more than watching the governor handle the affairs of a state at the local level?
Your Excellency, you are going to delay a genius who has won the imperial examination. This is a hasty order. I dare not obey such an order!"

Zhao Xu was scolded in the face and could only give up in disappointment.

(End of this chapter)