Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 266: Lantai Gathering

Chen Lingzhi asked Ren Yuan to look at the list of members of Lantai Ju. In addition to Ren Fang, there were Shen Yue, Fan Yun, Lu Jue, Xiao Chen, Xu Mian, Liu Xiaochuo, Liu Bao, and Liu Ru of Pengcheng, Zhang Shu of Wujun, Yin Yun and Yin Jun of Chenjun, Liu Xian of Peiguo, Dao Gai, Dao Qia, Zhu Yi, and Xie Xi...

"So many people?" Ren Yuan couldn't help but exclaimed: "It was quite a big event back then."

"Of course, and these are just the main characters. There are even more followers who are not yet qualified." Chen Lingzhi was afraid that Ren Yuan would not understand, so he explained it to him in detail:

"Not only is there a large number of people, but also a great deal of weight. The Lantai gathering encompasses the literary world of Jiankang and even the entire Daliang. Shen Yue, Fan Yun and Ren Gong are all the leading figures in the literary world; Xu Mian, the Liu brothers and the Dao brothers are the backbone of the literary world; the rest are also the best of the time. So every time they gather, it will cause a sensation. The poems and articles they write will also quickly spread throughout the capital and attract the attention of the world."

"Any scholar who is praised at the Lantai Gathering will soon become famous, and will soon be selected as a high-ranking official in the local examination, and successfully enter the officialdom." Chen Lingzhi smiled faintly and said, "So people say that today's 'Lantai Gathering' is the 'Yuedanping' of the past."

"That's a really high evaluation." Even a 'half-history illiterate' like Ren Yuan knew that the 'Monthly Evaluation' initiated by the Xu Shao brothers in the late Eastern Han Dynasty was the origin of the Nine-Rank System, which profoundly influenced the talent selection system for hundreds of years to come.

"I think the 'Yuedanping' back then may not be as good as the 'Lantaiju' today." Chen Lingzhi shook his head and said:
"Look, the main figures who organized the Lantai Gathering, Shen, Fan, Lu, Xiao and Ren Gong, are all members of the Jingling Eight Friends. As for the other three of the Jingling Eight Friends, the emperor could not have participated. Xie Tiao and Wang Rong both died early. Do you understand what this means?"

"This is the continuation of the emperor's small group back then." Ren Yuan suddenly realized: "The emperor uses this method to attract and select talents and enrich his team."

"You are indeed very perceptive." Chen Lingzhi glanced at Ren Yuan approvingly and said softly, "After the Emperor founded the country, the biggest problem was who to appoint to govern the country. He was obviously not confident in using the old ministers of the previous dynasty, and continuing to rely on the 'village election' would only serve to help the aristocratic families."

"Yes." Ren Yuan nodded. Even he knew that the aristocratic families achieved the goal of 'no poor scholars in the upper ranks and no noble families in the lower ranks' by monopolizing the Zhongzheng officials who were responsible for selecting talents, and then monopolized the high-ranking officials and noble titles in the court.

It can be said that the existence of the "Nine-Rank System" made the court's most important personnel power meaningless and greatly weakened the imperial power.

This is also a problem that emperors of every dynasty have wanted to solve since the Jin Dynasty.

"It seems that Lantai Ju is the emperor's solution." Ren Yuan whispered.

"That's right." Chen Lingzhi nodded, very satisfied that he understood it right away. "The top nobles would not bother to attend gatherings hosted by the poor, which gives the lower nobles the opportunity to get closer to the imperial power with their literary talents."

"And old friends like Ren Gong were tasked with selecting talents for the emperor. They recommended the talents they liked to the emperor. These people were cultivated by the emperor and soon emerged in the political arena. They had the opportunity to be on par with the nobles. This also strengthened the imperial power to a certain extent and weakened the power of the noble families."

"Wouldn't the noble families hate him to death?" Ren Yuan couldn't help but worry for Ren Fang.

"Yes." Chen Lingzhi nodded and said, "It is said that Ren Gong was attacked by many people at the beginning. The underlying reason was that he touched the interests of too many people." "Indeed." Ren Yuan said in agreement, "He offended the founding nobles, the noble families and the former officials at the same time. Even the gods cannot save him."

"This is the emperor's problem. He uses people to their utmost when they are useful and doesn't know how to protect talents." Chen Lingzhi sighed lightly.

"Talent? Just tools." Ren Yuan sneered, "Don't you see? In the eyes of our emperor, only the people in his family are human beings, and the rest are animals and tools."

"..." Chen Lingzhi tilted his head and thought for a moment, then nodded slightly and said, "It's true."

"Does Lantai Ju still exist now?" Ren Yuan asked.

"After Ren Gong was exiled to Xin'an, Fan Yun presided over the Lantai Gathering for a period of time, but he died earlier than Ren Gong. Later, everyone unanimously recommended Shen Yue to preside over the event, but the successive deaths of the previous two presiding chairmen frightened him, and no one wanted to take the lead, so the Lantai Gathering gradually disbanded." Chen Lingzhi sighed with regret:
"But no matter what, the Lantai Gathering was still a success. At least the talented people who gathered there are now holding important positions in the court. Together with the Liu brothers and the Dao brothers who are the leaders of the literary world, it can be said that both the court and the country are flourishing."

As she spoke, she chuckled and teased Ren Yuan, "These people have all received your father's favor and support to some extent. Now they are all successful. Do you think Ren Fang's grandson is worth the money?"

"That's really valuable." Ren Yuan couldn't help but admire it, but then he shook his head and said, "That's not right. Just now you said that Ren Fang had no money to bury him after his death, and he was finally buried in a wooden coffin wearing old clothes. If those people really wanted to repay him, would they let him be buried so poorly?"

"Haha, you've got the point." Chen Lingzhi found an article in the file and handed it to Ren Yuan. "This article, 'Guang Jue Jiao Lun', was written by Liu Jun, one of the Liu brothers. It is known as the second best letter of breaking off friendship in the world after 'Breaking Off Friendship Letter to Shan Juyuan'. You'll know after reading it."

Ren Yuan took it and saw that it was a long parallel prose, which made his head ache. In this era, parallel prose with four-character and six-character parallelism was popular, with a lot of words and few meanings. I couldn't understand what it was saying even after reading it for a long time.

However, he still read on patiently, and finally saw the actual content in the last two paragraphs of the full text. At this time, this 1,800-word article only had the last 300 words left...

The gist of these two paragraphs is:
'There was a great man named Ren Fang, who was a prominent official, had a brilliant literary talent, was a hero, and was ambitious. People all over the world admired him very much. He judged right and wrong, and evaluated the superior and inferior. If you were praised by him, your status would increase immediately; if you were promoted by him, your career would be prosperous. As a result, there was a constant stream of cars and people in front of his house, and the house was full of guests, and everyone was vying to meet him. '

'When Ren Fang passed away peacefully, he was buried in Yangzhou. The coffin was hung high, and few people came to mourn in front of the door; the grave was not covered with grass, and no one drove to the cemetery to pay tribute. The orphans left by Ren Fang were exiled to the remote border, living in dangerous mountains and bad waters, and their future was in danger. Those close friends who were as close as gold and orchids turned a blind eye to them, and no one was willing to help them.'

"Alas, it is really shameful and terrible. The world is so sinister that it makes upright people hate it to the extreme. So I want to break away from this corrupt world cleanly and never associate with villains like you again..."

(End of this chapter)