Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 361 Xu Xiancheng High School

Last autumn, Xu Xiancheng finally passed the imperial examination and became a juren.

When Xu Xiancheng passed the imperial examination, the entire Xu family was ecstatic, especially old man Xu, who was so happy that he couldn't stop laughing.

The Xu family was originally a scholarly family, and their ancestors had been officials. But now the family has been in decline for a long time. Old man Xu worked hard all his life but is only a scholar. He has only one son and one daughter. His daughter Xu Jingqiu married Zhu Shenzhui, a member of the royal family, and his son Xu Xiancheng is the last hope of the Xu family.

It has always been Mr. Xu's dream to have his son become a successful person and revive the Xu family. Now he has finally seen the results. Xu Xiancheng did not give up after his last failure. He studied hard at home after returning from studying abroad. This time he finally succeeded in one fell swoop. When the good news was delivered to his house, Mr. Xu was so excited that he burst into tears.

Passing the imperial examination was no small matter. Passing the examination to become a tongsheng meant officially gaining the status of a scholar, and passing the examination to become a xiucai meant reaching the class of the former gentry. Once you passed the imperial examination, it was a step further and you would have a formal position and the qualifications to become an official.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there were many people who were officials. Even later, there were only a few. Juren were fully qualified to be officials. Although they could not start as well as Jinshi, they had no problem in getting an official position. There were many officials who were Juren in the Ming Dynasty, and many of them were famous. The most famous one was Hai Rui. Hai Rui was a Juren, and he entered the officialdom as a teacher. Eventually, he became famous and everyone knew him.

After Xu Xiancheng passed the imperial examination, the news reached Pingyang. Zhu Shenzui and his wife were very happy for Xu Xiancheng. They specially asked someone to send a gift to Xu Xiancheng and brought one hundred taels of silver as travel expenses for him to go to Beijing to take part in the spring examination.

After bidding farewell to his family, Xu Xiancheng set off for the capital, where he prepared for the spring imperial examination. In the capital, he met Li Xin, a good friend he had made before. Li Xin also passed the autumn imperial examination this time. The reunion of the two in the capital fulfilled their previous promise to invite each other to take the spring imperial examination. Both parties were extremely happy to meet each other. At Li Xin's enthusiastic invitation, Xu Xiancheng moved into Li Xin's temporary residence in the capital. They learned from each other and discussed articles on weekdays. In their spare time, they also practiced martial arts.

In the blink of an eye, the day of the Spring Examination arrived. Xu Xiancheng and Li Xin, together with other candidates, took part in the Spring Examination and rushed to the examination hall.

After several days of intense and hard imperial examinations, it was time to wait for the announcement of the results. In the end, Xu Xiancheng passed by chance, but Li Xin was unlucky and failed.

For this reason, Xu Xiancheng was worried that his friend would be hurt and specially comforted him, but Li Xin smiled and said that it was nothing to fail this time. The imperial examination was a single-plank bridge with thousands of troops competing for it. Some people were unlucky and never passed in their entire lives. It was normal for him to fail because it was his first time taking the exam.

On the contrary, Li Xin felt more happy that Xu Xiancheng passed the exam than his own. He told Xu Xiancheng not to worry about himself and not to relax, because there would be the palace examination next. He should celebrate after it was over.

A few days later, Xu Xiancheng took part in the palace examination. The final result of the palace examination was that Xu Xiancheng ranked 67th in the second class and was awarded the title of Jinshi. This result was a great surprise for Xu Xiancheng. He originally thought that it would be good to be a Tong Jinshi, but he did very well in the palace examination and actually moved up a little in the final ranking, and finally achieved such a result.

After the imperial examination, Xu Xiancheng celebrated with Li Xin and his fellow examinees in the capital and passed the news back home.

When the news reached Shanxi, the Xu family was instantly in an uproar. Old Master Xu went to burn incense and kowtow to his ancestors that very day. Thanks to the blessings of his ancestors, the Xu family finally had another official. Xu Xiancheng was a Jinshi (a Jinshi degree holder). No one knew whether he would stay in the capital or serve as an official in the local area. But no matter what, the revival of the Xu family depended on Xu Xiancheng, which made Old Master Xu very pleased.

Zhu Shenzui and his wife were also very happy about this matter, but compared to Xu Jingqiu, Zhu Shenzui thought more deeply. He did not expect that his brother-in-law would succeed in one go and actually pass the exam, and become a second-class Jinshi.

The capital is not a good place now. The eunuch party led by Wei Zhongxian is launching the final attack on the Donglin Party. The struggle between the two sides has reached a white-hot level. Zhu Shenzhu is very clear about the future development. Once Wei Zhongxian is at his peak and the eunuch party collapses, it will be the time for the court to purge again. In this case, it is not clear whether Xu Xiancheng's success in the imperial examination is a good thing or a bad thing.

After passing the imperial examination, according to court rules, the new scholars had to first go to various government offices for internship before being assigned an official position.

Generally speaking, the first-class Jinshi can directly enter the Hanlin Academy, the second-class Jinshi can serve as the head of the Six Ministries or the local governor, and the third-class Jinshi usually serve as storytellers, secretaries, or messengers, or be sent to local areas as prosecutors or county magistrates.

The outstanding ones among the Jinshi can be selected as Shujishi and enter the Hanlin Academy directly. The position of Shujishi may seem insignificant, but it is actually a reserve of senior cadres. It is usually said that one cannot enter the cabinet without being a Shujishi. This was also the court practice after Emperor Yingzong of Ming Dynasty.

Xu Xiancheng passed the imperial examination and became a second-class Jinshi. Logically, he should have first observed government affairs in the six ministries, and then might have been appointed as the head of the six ministries. If someone recommended him, there was a great possibility that he would be selected as a Shujishi. Once he entered the Hanlin Academy, his future would have been bright.

However, Zhu Shenzhui knew that the current situation in the court was delicate, and being a Beijing official or a local official was not a good place to be. In the officialdom of the capital, the eunuch party and the Donglin party were fighting fiercely, and everyone in the officialdom was taking sides. It was impossible to stay out of it. Once you took the wrong side, the consequences would be extremely serious. Even if you took the right side now, it would still bring you great trouble in a few years.

Being an official in the imperial court was not a good choice, and being a local official was equally difficult. Xu Xiancheng was from Shanxi, and according to the imperial court's rule that locals could not serve as officials in their hometowns, if Xu Xiancheng wanted to be a local official, he could only go to other provinces.

There seem to be many places to go in the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty, but places like Northern Zhili, Shandong, Central Plains, and Shaanxi are not good places to go. Once you go there to be an official, it may be a problem whether you can keep your life and property in the future.

Xu Xiancheng is Xu Jingqiu's younger brother and Zhu Shenzhui's brother-in-law. He doesn't want Xu Xiancheng to fall into that kind of situation in the future. If anything happens to Xu Xiancheng in the future, it will be no trivial matter.

Thinking of this, Zhu Shenzhui became a little restless. He had to help Xu Xiancheng no matter what. He didn't want his brother-in-law to be in danger because of a wrong step. It would be fine if he didn't know about it, but since he knew the great changes that would happen later, he had to make proper arrangements for Xu Xiancheng.

It was not difficult for Zhu Shenzhui to help Xu Xiancheng, because he only needed to write a letter to Zhang Xijun and ask Zhang Xijun to do it through Wei Liangqing. With Wei Zhongxian's current overwhelming power, it would be easy for him to get a 6th or 7th grade official position, let alone a better lucrative position.

But in this way, Xu Xiancheng would be labeled as a eunuch party member. After Wei Zhongxian fell, he would inevitably be involved in the purge of the eunuch party. Even if he was not seriously involved, he would be dismissed from office. This would also be a blow to Xu Xiancheng and the entire Xu family.

After much deliberation, Zhu Shenzhui still did not write to Zhang Xijun. To be honest, he really did not want to see Xu Xiancheng enter the officialdom at this time. But this was something he could not stop. Soon after, he received news that Xu Xiancheng had entered the Ministry of Works to observe government affairs. According to court rules, he would be given a real position after observing government affairs for half a year.

After hearing the news, Xu Jingqiu was happy but also worried about Xu Xiancheng. The two siblings grew up together and had a very deep relationship. It had been nearly two years since they last met. After Xu Xiancheng's observation of government affairs ended, no matter what official position he was granted, there would be few opportunities for them to meet in the future. As a woman who married into the royal family, it would be difficult for Xu Jingqiu to travel long distances to visit her brother. As for Xu Xiancheng, whether he would be an official in the capital or work in the local area, it was unlikely that he would return to his hometown in the future.

Seeing that Xu Jingqiu was so concerned about his brother, Zhu Shenzhui planned to go to the capital to visit Xu Xiancheng in person.

Zhu Shenzhui still had a good relationship with his brother-in-law, and he was still worried about him after so many days had passed since they last parted. In addition, considering that Xu Xiancheng was now observing government affairs in the Ministry of Works, he would live in the capital. After the observation, whether he stayed in the capital or went to the countryside, he had to find a way to solve his living problems.

The Xu family was not a wealthy family, and as the only son of the Xu family, Old Man Xu could not provide much help. When Xu Xiancheng went to Beijing for the imperial examination, he did not bring much money with him, and it was Zhu Shenzhui and Xu Jingqiu who gave him some travel expenses.

After passing the imperial examination, although Xu Xiancheng had enough money because of his status as a newly-appointed Jinshi, it was not much in total. It was not easy to live in the capital, and it was not easy for him to live in the capital with his current salary. In addition, Zhu Shenzhu did not want Xu Xiancheng to have anything to do with Wei Zhongxian's eunuch party. For now, Xu Xiancheng could only rent a small courtyard, live frugally, and make plans after he was officially appointed after the observation of the government.

At this time, Zhu Shenzui had never been to the capital. It was almost the sixth year of Tianqi, and Zhu Shenzui had been thinking about visiting the capital, taking a look at the core of the empire, and feeling the imperial capital on the eve of the coming storm.

It was very convenient to travel from Shanxi to the capital. Zhu Shenzui took two followers and rode a donkey cart along the official road. It didn't take long for them to arrive in the capital.

When he saw the towering walls of the capital appear before his eyes, Zhu Shenzhu was shocked beyond words. Zhu Shenzhu had never seen such a magnificent city before, because the walls of the capital had been demolished long ago, and he would never see such a scene again, not to mention the strong sense of history and oppression that came over him.

Such a majestic city is the best in the world, and no other city can compare to it. Looking up at the tall city walls of the capital, Zhu Shenzhui couldn't help but sigh in his heart, and then he continued to move forward and headed towards the city gate.

Zhu Shenzhui successfully entered the capital, and it took him some time to find Xu Xiancheng's residence after entering the city.

Looking at the ordinary courtyard in front of him, Zhu Shenzhui frowned slightly. Not to mention the size of the courtyard, the location was also very bad. The place where Xu Xiancheng lived was just the area where ordinary people in the capital lived. The environment was really not good. Moreover, the courtyard was dilapidated. Looking inside from the low walls, the tiles on the roof were also a bit broken. If it rained, it might leak. It was really not a good place to live.

(End of this chapter)