Top Scholar

Chapter 372 Sometimes in life, there must be something

Yan Song first led a group of newly appointed scholars to the ceremony room to verify their identities.

The newly appointed candidates, as instructed, produced their examination papers and compared them one by one with the roster of the Provincial Administration Commissioner, and then signed their names.

The roster only contains names and places of origin. Candidates also need to fill in their age, courtesy name, school, and other information themselves for use in printing the "Provincial Examination Record".

The "Records of the Provincial Examinations" is an official document published after the provincial examinations. It contains a list of examiners, examination questions, information on those who passed, and the most lengthy examination paper.

The examination essays were written by outstanding candidates for the imperial examinations, and were presented for students across the country to study. Usually, about twenty essays were selected from all the essays written by those who passed the examinations, covering all the exam questions, so generally one essay was written for each question.

"Let's see who gets more selected essays?" Yang Shen found another competition to compete against Su Lu.

"..." Su Lu glanced at him. Did he think this top scholar was a fool? What good would it do me to compete with him? Winning was expected, but losing meant he'd get his revenge.

Therefore, he wouldn't compete with Yang Shen again before the imperial examination. He had a perfectly legitimate reason—

“Brother Yongxiu, as the top two, we should set an example and uphold our friendship. This constant fighting is setting a bad example and making us a laughing stock among our peers.” He then earnestly advised Yang Shen, “If you really want to win, then you win.”

"Brother Jieyuan is truly a man of great understanding and consideration." The other students praised him, saying, "We will certainly unite closely around Brother Jieyuan."

"..." Yang Shen was so angry that his nose was crooked. What did he mean by "I win"? It was as if he was a sore loser.

But he could only force a smile and say, "Brother Jieyuan is right."

After verifying their identities, Yan Song led them to the household registration courtyard to process the formalities for changing their household registration from civilian to official.

When a commoner's son passed the imperial examination, the provincial administration office would change his family's status to "official household" in the Yellow Register. Once the document was circulated to the county, it would become the basis for the successful candidate to be exempt from taxes and corvée labor.

Therefore, the conversion of commoners to officials marked the transition of the families of successful candidates from ordinary citizens to a privileged class, thus completely distinguishing them from ordinary citizens in terms of taxes, etiquette, and laws.

Of course, if an official's household commits a crime or retires without having any sons to enter officialdom, they will be demoted to commoners after several generations and return to the ranks of ordinary citizens. The saying goes, "The blessings of a virtuous person end after five generations," but in reality, it doesn't last that long; generally, the benefits are no longer enjoyed by the grandchildren…

Therefore, families of officials and wealthy families would do everything in their power to urge their children and grandchildren to study. People, once they enjoy privileges, are extremely reluctant to lose them…

The process of transferring household registration didn't take too long, because half of the candidates didn't have to go through the process. There were two situations: first, those like Zhu Zihe and Deng Dengying were already from official households, so they naturally didn't need to go through the process.

Another group consisted of seven sons of military households, including Su Lu, Su Man, and Lin Zhihong. The imperial court was extremely wary of losing soldiers and maintained strict control over military households, so it was difficult to convert them to civilian households, let alone to noble official households.

Although this doesn't affect anything, the privileges they are entitled to remain unchanged. Moreover, the military has always held its own members, who are successful candidates in the imperial examinations, in high esteem, so they actually enjoy even more privileges.

But if others have something you don't, you'll still feel envious...

Actually, it's not that they can't change their status. For example, Li Dongyang, the current Grand Secretary, has already changed from a military household to an official household.

The conditions are a bit harsh... one must enter the court as an official and rise to the rank of a second-grade minister before the family can be removed from the military register and become an official household.

"Don't be discouraged. Rules are rules, but they're not actually that difficult." While waiting, Yan Song gently comforted Su Lu and the others.
"I've heard that court officials and lecturers can petition the Emperor for special leniency. If the Emperor remembers you, he'll usually grant it..."

"..." Su Lu nodded silently, thinking to himself, "It's still really difficult, isn't it?"
The court officials were officials of the fifth rank or above in the capital and censors, which in later times were roughly equivalent to department-level cadres in the central government.

The first requirement for an official to preside over the imperial lectures was to be a member of the Hanlin Academy…

So don't think about it too much for now.

After all the transfers that could be completed were finished, Yan Song led the candidates to the main hall to pay their respects to the provincial governor and receive their licentiates' certificates, which were documents proving their status as successful candidates in the imperial examinations.

~~
It was already 7:45 AM. Sunlight slanted into the main hall of the Provincial Administration Commission. In front of the vermilion pillars, two groups of yamen runners stood solemnly, while the officials of the Provincial Administration Commission sat on both sides according to their rank.

Two large tables were set up in the hall, belonging to Du, the Left Provincial Governor, and Liu, the Right Provincial Governor, respectively.

The scholars, accustomed to the idea of ​​not having two suns in the sky, found this scene rather odd...

Not only did they find it strange, but the officials of the Provincial Administration Commission also found it strange, but there was nothing they could do, since the two provincial governors were unwilling to give in to each other.

In order to prevent local areas from becoming too powerful, Zhu Yuanzhang established three departments to check and balance each other, and appointed two second-rank provincial governors as left and right governors in the most powerful provincial administration department.

Now, the local areas no longer grow large; instead, they're constantly fighting amongst themselves. The three provincial administrations fight amongst themselves, and the provincial administration also fights internally. When something happens, they pass the buck and whine, creating a situation where "three monks have no water to drink." This forced the imperial court to establish the position of provincial governor to oversee all matters.

After the establishment of the new leader, things gradually calmed down. However, Liu Jin implemented new policies and dismissed the governors... In less than a month, the two provincial governors started competing again.

For example, today, Governor Du believes that as the Left Provincial Administration Commissioner, his rank is higher, so he should be the one to issue the official certificates to the candidates.

However, Governor Liu believed that as the supervisor of the provincial examinations, he should be the one to issue the robes. Neither side was willing to compromise, which put the officials below in a difficult position. In the end, they could only resort to a compromise: Governor Liu was asked to issue the official robes to the candidates, and Governor Du was asked to issue the official receipts.

So the candidates should have changed into official robes before going to the court to pay their respects to the provincial governor, but to save face for the two provincial governors, they had to make a sacrifice and still wear their scholar's robes. Fortunately, most of the candidates were unaware of this and thought it was the proper custom. Su Lu knew it was against etiquette, but since this wasn't an exam, he figured it was fine...

After the candidates paid their respects, the two provincial governors took turns giving speeches, which were mostly congratulatory, expectant, and admonitory remarks.

The candidates were deeply moved; the two provincial governors truly valued them greatly. After one finished speaking, the other would repeat it again, as if afraid they would forget.

After finishing their preamble, the candidates stepped forward one by one, first going to Liu Fantai's large desk to collect their complete sets of official robes...

Su Lu was naturally the first to receive it. After expressing his gratitude, he held up his official robe and bowed before Governor Du's desk.

On the large table in front of Governor Du, a neat stack of yellow mulberry paper lay. He looked at Su Lu with a smile, stroked his beard, and nodded, saying:

"Well done, well done. I never imagined that the top scholar would be so young. Truly, heroes have emerged from among the young since ancient times." With that, he picked up the top sheet of mulberry paper, glanced at it, and handed it to Su Lu.

Su Lu hurriedly took it with both hands. He saw that the document was made of thick, supple yellow mulberry paper, with fine cloud patterns embroidered around the edges. The four seal characters "举人公据" (Juren Gongju, a document for successful candidates in the provincial examination) at the top were written in vermilion ink, as bright as the sunset. Below, the characters "First Place in the Provincial Examination of the Dingmao Year of Zhengde" were written neatly and powerfully, and it was also stamped with the vermilion seal of "Sichuan Provincial Administration Commission". There was a half-seal across the seam at the corner, and the pattern was clearly visible.

The blank space in the middle was filled with Su Lu's name, age, place of origin, and information about three generations of his family, as well as a list of the privileges he was entitled to—

"With this official document, you are exempt from corvée labor; except in cases of serious imperial decree, no one may arbitrarily detain or torture you; minor offenses will be exempt from flogging, and you may redeem your punishment; supplies will be provided along the route to the capital for the imperial examinations."

This was not only a certificate of identity for a successful candidate in the imperial examinations, but also a talisman! It was also the sense of security that Su Lu had been diligently pursuing through his studies...

He raised both hands above his head and respectfully accepted the weighty document, feeling an unprecedented sense of security.

Su Lu took a deep breath and bowed again to express his gratitude: "Thank you for your guidance, Your Excellency. I will certainly keep your teachings in mind!"

He is now an official, but he doesn't yet have a formal title, so in formal settings he should refer to himself as "your humble servant".

"Very well." Governor Du stroked his beard and nodded, his smile very warm. To be honest, although he encouraged Su Lu to strive for the top scholar title, he didn't actually have much hope.

His opponent was Yang Shen...

Unexpectedly, this kid actually turned the impossible into possible, snatching food from the tiger's mouth!

And, coincidentally...

In short, this newly appointed top scholar definitely has some good fortune.

"Go and change into your official robes," Governor Du said gently, withdrawing his incredulous gaze. "Then come with me and Governor Liu to the Deer Cry Banquet."

"Yes, sir." Su Lu responded loudly, bowed again, and took his leave.

"Please come with me, Scholar Su," Yan Song said softly, leading Su Lu to a side room to change his clothes.

After leaving the main hall, Yan Song looked back and saw Yang Shen still talking to Governor Du, then whispered to Su Lu:

"I just received an urgent report from the capital this morning that Grand Secretary Yang is to be reinstated."

"..." Su Lu was almost speechless with shock. What a coincidence!

"August 28th was the day the victory was announced," Yan Song said in a low voice while leading the way without looking to the side. "The Emperor suddenly felt like attending court, but found that Grand Secretary Yang was not there, so he asked, 'Why is Master Yang not in court?'"

Liu Jin replied, "I am currently the Minister of Revenue in Nanjing." The Emperor said, "Master Yang has already entered the Eastern Pavilion, how can the Minister of Revenue be a Hanlin official?" So the next day, he ordered that Grand Secretary Yang be summoned back to the capital, to return to the Inner Cabinet to participate in state affairs, and to concurrently serve as a Grand Secretary of the Wenyuan Pavilion...

"Do you believe that if it had been a few days earlier, the top scholar wouldn't have been surnamed Su?" As he spoke, he pushed open the door and invited Su Lu into the room, unable to help but laugh, "Unfortunately, what's done is done, and even the Heavenly King himself can't change it."

"Of course..." Su Lu was dumbfounded the whole time, never expecting that his luck would be this good.

This time, Yang Tinghe's reinstatement was not just a simple matter; this back and forth was enough to prove that he was favored by the emperor, and Liu Jin could do nothing to him... although it took the emperor several months to realize that he was no longer with the emperor.

At least after this incident, Liu Jin dared not lay a hand on him again. His standing among the officials would undoubtedly skyrocket!

Especially since the Grand Secretary is colluding with Liu Jin, Yang Tinghe is about to become the hope of the entire village and the leader of the resistance against Liu!
Therefore, there was no need for Grand Secretary Yang to explicitly or implicitly suggest it; the Sichuan authorities would definitely use this title of Jieyuan to congratulate him on his reinstatement!
Unfortunately, it was a few days too late; by the time the urgent message arrived in Chengdu, the results had already been released…

Su Lu neatly placed his black gauze hat and blue scholar's round collar on the table, then gently stroked the smooth silk fabric, inwardly sighing in admiration—

It's as if God sent Yang Ge Lao on a trip to Nanjing just to help him pass the imperial examination with top honors.

P.S. I'll revise this later, please vote with monthly tickets!
Furthermore, Yang Tinghe's story is historical fact; it's just a coincidence, so this book has some merit...

(End of this chapter)