The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 55: The Foundation of the Imperial Party
"Simplicity is in the emperor's heart" comes from "The Analects of Confucius: Yao said"

The original text is: The emperor's ministers are not deceived, simplicity is in the emperor's heart.

This means that the talents and character of the emperor's ministers will not be buried, and the emperor knows it clearly in his heart.

Originally, this sentence was a praise for the wisdom and fairness of the emperor, who could recognize and value even the smallest talents of his subjects.

Later, the meaning of this sentence gradually changed and came to refer specifically to a type of person, that is, someone who was well known and appreciated by the emperor.

The meaning of Wanli's question is very clear. If you want to be successful, then perform well in front of me.

As for what to show, it is naturally loyalty to the emperor.

When the questions for the palace examination were announced, all civil and military officials withdrew, leaving only the invigilating examiners, inspectors and other examination officials.

The neatly arranged tables in the square in front of the Huangji Hall also appeared.

All candidates knelt to receive the test questions, kowtowed, and then knelt in front of the table according to their ranking to begin answering the questions.

Originally, Wanli only needed to sit here for the sake of appearance. After the palace examination officially began, he could do other things, and then he could show up again after the examination was over.

However, this time he sat on the steps and watched the candidates taking the palace examination with great interest, with no intention of getting up and leaving.

It is the season of spring when flowers are blooming. It is neither cold nor hot. When the sun comes out, it feels warm on the body, which is indescribably comfortable.

Wanli actually began to doze off while sitting there.

He nodded his head like a quail, and Li Xuancheng coughed lightly and said carefully, "Your Majesty, is it time to review the memorials?"

Oh, I almost forgot what I was going to do.

Upon hearing this, Wanli stretched comfortably, then stood up and walked down the stairs.

The inspecting officials in the examination room were stunned when they saw this.

What is the little emperor going to do?
Wanli actually tiptoed to the back of the first candidate on the left in the first row and quietly peeked in.

He is simply trying to cover up his mistake. The other person is not blind and must have seen him coming.

However, this person is unusually calm.

This guy clearly knew that Wanli was peeking at him from behind, but he still kept writing on the straw paper without a single pause.

He is the first on the list of tribute scholars, Li Tingji.

This guy is also a historical celebrity, and unofficial history jokingly calls him one of the four famous prime ministers in the late Ming Dynasty.

There has been no prime minister in the Ming Dynasty since the Hongwu period. The "prime minister" mentioned in unofficial history is actually the chief minister of the cabinet or the grand secretary of the cabinet.

According to unofficial history, the four famous prime ministers of the late Ming Dynasty were Yan Song, Xu Jie, Zhang Juzheng and Li Tingji.

Yan Song was notoriously treacherous.

Xu Jie was famous for his tolerance.

Zhang Juzheng is famous for his reforms and efforts to strengthen the country.

Li Tingji became famous because he submitted a petition to resign!
It seems that this guy served as the first or second assistant minister in history.

However, that was the time when the factional struggles in the court were at their most intense.

He did not join the Donglin Party, nor did he join the Qi, Chu and Zhejiang Party.

Therefore, he was bullied by both sides in the party struggle, and the censors on both sides kept attacking him.

This weirdo simply sent his family back to his hometown, gave his mansion in the capital to poor people, and then ran to a dilapidated temple on the outskirts of the capital to submit a petition for resignation.

He originally thought that after writing ten or so copies, Emperor Wanli would become impatient and ask him to get out.

Who knows, at that time Wanli really did not attend court, meet with people, approve or speak.

He submitted memorials continuously for nearly half a year and wrote more than a hundred resignation memorials, but Wanli didn't even look at them!
This time, he couldn't bear it anymore.

He simply packed up his belongings and returned home secretly.

This is considered as abandoning one's post without permission. If the Wanli Emperor at that time wanted to investigate it, it would be a serious matter.

Who would have thought that not only did Wanli not attend court, meet with him, approve his decision, or discuss the matter, he was even too lazy to pursue the matter. He lived at home for four years and eventually died in poverty.

As for his fame, that happened during the Chongzhen period.

At that time, the gossipy officials took out his resignation memorial and were filled with admiration.

Wow, among the more than 140 resignation memorials, not a single one was repeated, even the reasons given were different, and the eight-part essays were extremely well-written.

This is simply a model of submitting a resignation memorial. No matter who wants to resign for any reason, they can find a copy directly from his resignation memorial.

Later generations also understood that he probably couldn't think of a reason to resign, so he packed up his bedding and ran back secretly.

He became famous in this way and became one of the four famous prime ministers of the late Ming Dynasty in unofficial history.

The reason why people called him that was actually because they admired the way he wrote his resignation memorial.

The reason why Wanli quietly came up behind this guy and peeked at him was that he wanted to see how well this guy's article was done.

It's only been an hour or so, and this guy hasn't finished his article yet.

Moreover, there were ten sheets of draft paper during the palace examination. Candidates were required to write their essays on the draft paper first and then copy them onto the answer sheet to avoid writing too messily or making smudges that would offend the emperor.

So, this guy is still thinking about a brilliant article on draft paper.

However, the words between the lines are already brilliant, and what this guy conceived is all about how to be loyal to the emperor, not a deliberate misinterpretation.

It's really great to have such a talented and honest person.

Wanli nodded slightly, then walked to the right with his hands behind his back.

When he passed by Zhang Jiazheng, Shen Yongmao and Yang Yuanxiang, he deliberately stopped and looked at them.

As expected, these three guys were a little confused by his trick. The words written on the straw paper were a mess and incomprehensible.

He couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth slightly, and smiled evilly to himself, then went to the imperial study to review memorials.

It was just after noon, and there was still nearly an hour before the paper was due, when he came again.

The sun was high in the sky at this time, and it was the warmest and most comfortable time of the day. Most of the candidates sat with their eyes closed, seemingly asleep.

Of course, they were not asleep.

They took a deep breath and prepared to copy the written essay onto the answer sheet.

Sure enough, not long after, most of the candidates opened their eyes and picked up their pens to copy down the answers seriously.

Wanli glanced at it for a long time, until Li Tingji finished copying and put down his pen. Then he stood up, walked over quietly, and looked carefully.

What a great top-scoring essay! Not only is the content brilliant, but the handwriting is also as neat and tidy as if it were printed, and the size is the same.

He couldn't help but nodded slightly again, then walked to the right. When he passed by Zhang Jiazheng, Shen Yongmao and Yang Yuanxiang, he deliberately stopped and looked at them.

The articles written by these three guys are really a bunch of shit, their quality is not even as good as his!
The reason why he walked around in the examination room and deliberately looked at the essays written by Zhang Jiazheng, Shen Yongmao and Yang Yuanxiang was to warn Zhang Siwei and Shen Shixing's party not to try to cheat secretly through various means.

When the results of the palace examination came out, Zhang Jiazheng, Shen Yongmao and Yang Yuanxiang were indeed ranked at the bottom of the top three.

Li Tingji, Zhu Guozuo and Liu Yingqiu ranked in the top three respectively.

Historically, because Zhu Guozuo's hometown was adjacent to Shen Shixing's hometown, Shen Shixing deliberately asked Wanli to choose Zhu Guozuo as the top scholar, hoping to take the opportunity to win over Zhu Guozuo.

At this moment, Shen Shixing didn't dare to say a word.

Li Tingji was directly selected as the top scholar by Emperor Wanli.

However, Zhu Guozuo and Liu Yingqiu are also good. Not only are their articles brilliant, but the main content is still loyalty to the emperor.

Wanli asked Yu Youcai to carefully read all the palace examination essays, and accept as disciples all those whose main content was loyal to the emperor, as the foundation of the imperial party.

Of course, there are definitely some people who pretend to be loyal to the emperor when writing articles, but are actually not loyal to the emperor.

There is no need to worry about this, as they will have plenty of opportunities to figure it out in the future.

(End of this chapter)