I am a temporary worker in Jinyiwei, how did I become a powerful official?

Chapter 64 Wu Chengen's Ambition
At dusk, Wu Cheng'en was writing with a brush at the desk in the main hall.

He wrote about Wang Changling's "Joining the Army".

"The snow-capped mountains are covered by long clouds in Qinghai, and the lonely city looks into the Yumen Pass in the distance. The yellow sand wears golden armor in a hundred battles, and Loulan will never return it until it is broken."

The 51-year-old tribute student Wu Cheng'en has an ambition to fight on the battlefield and achieve great things.

He wanted to be Xin Qiji of the Song Dynasty or Yang Bo of this dynasty.

However, many years of failure in the imperial examinations prevented him from realizing his ambitions.

Wu Cheng'en's wife was the great-granddaughter of Ye Qi, the Minister of Revenue in the early years of the Hongzhi reign. Although Ye Qi had passed away for many years, the Ye family was still a large family in Huai'an.

The son-in-law of a wealthy family in Jiangnan, as long as his talent and learning are not too bad, can find a way to pass the provincial examination and become a juren.

Unfortunately, Wu Cheng'en's father-in-law had been involved in party disputes and had lost power in Beijing, so his son-in-law could not get any chance to pass the imperial examination.

In the eighth year of Jiajing, the 25-year-old Wu Chengen went to Longxi Academy, a government-run school in Huai'an, to study. At that time, he liked to collect strange stories and had the idea of writing a book about gods, demons and strange things.

In the tenth year of Jiajing, at the age of 26, he went to Jiangnan Gongyuan to take part in the provincial examination, but failed.

In the 13th year of Jiajing, at the age of 29, he took part in the provincial examination again and failed again.

In the 16th year of Jiajing, at the age of 32, he took part in the provincial examination for the third time, but failed again.

He did not take the exam again. He spent five years and completed the first draft of Journey to the West in the 21st year of Jiajing.

In the 28th year of Jiajing, an old friend of the Ye family suddenly became rich and was promoted to the deputy envoy of the Nanzhili Education Office.

That old friend took good care of Wu Cheng'en, and that's how Wu Cheng'en was able to study at the Imperial Academy in Nanjing.

While in Nanjing, Wu Cheng'en witnessed the farce of dozens of Japanese pirates attacking the Ming capital.

At the age of 51, he was filled with righteous indignation, and the ambition to join the army and stabilize the country was rekindled.

Coincidentally, after six years of waiting in line in the Imperial College, he was finally able to go to Beijing to take part in the imperial examination.

This time, he didn't want to be the magistrate or chief clerk of any fat county, but only wanted to be the prefect of a county along the coast where Japanese pirates were rampant.

Dianshi was a special position in the Ming Dynasty. He was in charge of the public security of a county and was not a high-ranking official.

Although the Dianshi had no rank, he was still an "official appointed by the imperial court" because the Dianshi was selected by the Ministry of Personnel and approved by the emperor.

The prefects of the coastal counties were in charge of yamen runners and militiamen, and had opportunities to fight against the Japanese pirates.

Wu Cheng'en finally put down his pen. He didn't know that two monkey thieves were sneaking into Zhuniapao Hutong.

In the alley, Lin Shisan and his apprentice changed into night clothes, which they borrowed from the Northern Pacification Office.

Lin Shisan was carrying a sack in his hand, while Sun Yue was carrying a large bamboo basket on his shoulders. In the basket were a bunch of things used to steal monkeys.

Lin Shisan lowered his voice and said, "We will follow the plan later."

Sun Yue nodded: "Okay. I have to avenge the dung bucket!"

The two were talking. Suddenly, a large blue sedan stopped in front of Wu Chengen's courtyard. A man in plain clothes got out of the sedan and strode into the courtyard.

Lin Shisan frowned: "How can Wu Chengen, a tribute student, have a relationship with the ministers of the ministry?"

Taizu established the rule when he founded the country. Only royal relatives, nobles, senior officials of the fifth rank or above and over 60 years old, and women in the capital were allowed to use sedan chairs.

After the Yongle reign, civil officials of the third rank and above in the capital were allowed to ride in sedan chairs, regardless of age, but military officials were strictly prohibited from riding in sedan chairs.

Emperor Zhengde always said "rules are meant to be broken". Therefore, during the Zhengde reign and after, all officials were allowed to ride in sedan chairs, but sedan chairs were divided according to rank.

The blue wool sedan chair is now only used by ministers of the central government.

Lin Shisan lowered his voice and said, "Let's stop for now. We can't steal monkeys in front of the ministers."

"Change out of your night clothes and go talk to the sedan bearer to find out which important person has entered Wu's house."

Sun Yue nodded: "Okay."

The person who entered Wu Chengen's courtyard was Li Chunfang, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites. Li Chunfang was Wu Chengen's fellow villager, and the two had studied together. It was no exaggeration to say that they were close friends.

They were classmates and close friends, but their careers were completely different.

Wu Cheng'en failed the provincial examinations repeatedly, while Li Chunfang passed at the age of 20.

After that, Li Chunfang took part in the imperial examination four times in a row but failed.

Either you don’t win, or if you win, you win a big one.

In the 21st year of Jiajing's reign, the 36-year-old Li Chunfang finally passed the imperial examination and even won the first place in the palace examination.

Li Chunfang's career went smoothly afterwards. He was promoted to the Imperial Academy and was selected to write Qingci for Emperor Jiajing in the Western Garden.

Emperor Jiajing praised his Qingci highly, so Li Chunfang was promoted to Hanlin Bachelor.

After that, he worked as a junior official in the Taichang Temple for another year. This year, he was promoted to the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites, becoming one of the ministers of the ministry.

The 49-year-old Right Minister of the Ministry of Rites is quite favored by the emperor. He is likely to enter the cabinet in the future.

When Li Chunfang saw Wu Chengen, tears welled up in his eyes: "Brother Ruzhong, it has been thirteen years since we parted in Huai'an. I hope you are doing well!"

Wu Chengen's eyes were also filled with tears: "Zi Shi, long time no see. Oh no, now I should respectfully address you as Li Butang."

Li Chunfang cursed: "You knew I was an official in the capital, but you didn't come to see me when you came to the capital! You have such a cruel heart!"

Wu Chengen explained: "You are now a minister of the Ministry. If I come to you, it seems like I am trying to curry favor with you."

Li Chunfang took Wu Chengen's hand and walked into the main room: "Let's go to your room and talk."

The two of them sat down and talked about the past.

Wu Cheng'en told him what happened in Gaosheng Teahouse, just as a joke.

Li Chunfang frowned: "You would rather ask those shabby brokers and liars for help than ask me for help?"

Wu Cheng'en smiled and said, "I know you too well. Will it help if I ask you for help?"

Li Chunfang answered without hesitation: "I have recommended my students and old friends to the Ministry of Personnel many times. People do not avoid relatives when recommending people from within the Ministry of Personnel. How come it is useless?"

Wu Cheng'en said: "But I am not your disciple or old friend, but your confidant."

Li Chunfang stood up and nodded: "That's right. Because you are my confidant. Even if you beg me, I will never recommend you to the Ministry of Personnel."

"Do you know why?"

Wu Cheng'en poured a cup of tea for his old friend and said, "I'd like to hear more about it."

Li Chunfang's words were sonorous: "If I recommend you, the Ming Dynasty will only have one more mediocre bureaucrat. If I don't recommend you, the Ming Dynasty will have one more literary giant who will be remembered for thousands of years!"

Wu Cheng'en laughed and said, "You are exaggerating."

Li Chunfang said, "Every word I say comes from my heart. If you enter the officialdom and become an eighth or ninth rank official, what does it matter even if you are promoted to the seventh rank?"

"You spend your days socializing, dealing with official documents, and working on your papers. You will remain an unknown figure until you die."

"But if you spend the rest of your life revising your masterpiece Journey to the West to make it more perfect, even hundreds or thousands of years later, there will still be people who will remember you!"

"You are not cut out to be an official, but you are cut out to be a great writer."

"There are hundreds of thousands or even millions of officials in a dynasty, but there are only a few great writers who can be passed down through the ages!"

Li Chunfang and Wu Chengen talked around the fire until late at night.

This froze Master Lin Shisan and his apprentice who were waiting to steal the monkey in the alley.

The master and his apprentice were so cold that their teeth were chattering. They had no choice but to give up tonight and leave Zhuniapao Hutong.

(End of this chapter)