Flowers on the other side [Comprehensive Red House]

Chapter 391

After the papers were collected, a special person immediately went up to fill in the names.The courtiers who were going to participate in the examination, followed the sage and the prince, went to eat overtime meals together.This overtime meal is also the prince's proposal.He said in front of the sage that courtiers who work overtime often eat snacks to satisfy their hunger, which will damage their health over time and affect their enthusiasm and efficiency. After repeating this a few times, the sage ordered the imperial dining room to provide free overtime meals.

The prince also specially went to the imperial dining room to ask Zhao Jiu, the steward, to let him understand the quality and quantity of the three dishes and one soup.After being reminded twice by the prince, Zhao Jiu finally figured out what to serve for the overtime imperial meal.

Two meat, one vegetarian, one broth, served with white rice.This is the standard configuration of overtime meals.As for the meat and vegetables, the crown prince asked Zhao Jiu to draw up a menu and make it according to the seasons.

Afterwards, the prince once said to the saint: "Father, if you want the horse to run well, you have to add grass at night."

The sage laughed for a long time when he heard this, and asked Liang Jiu to tell Zhao Jiu that the courtiers were working hard for state affairs, so he dared to ignore overtime meals and be careful about being punished.

After enjoying the overtime meal with the same dishes as the sage, more than [-] people who participated in the examination papers graded the papers with complicated emotions about the palace examination questions.Basically, everyone feels this way, no matter how delicious it is, it will be blocked by these papers and cause indigestion.

There has never been a palace examination marking paper that made people feel uncomfortable, entangled, and hated like this year.Each of the papers and the content of the letter pointed out that the gentry's tax exemption was the root cause of land annexation, and the harm of land annexation was the same.Those who read the papers are all members of the tax-free concessions. This is to point their noses at them and call them a disaster for the country and the people.And they have to pick out the good ones among them.

As for the benefits to the self-cultivating farmers, none of the [-] papers could raise a single point.

The twenty-odd people who marked the paper were divided into five groups.This means reading the same Guange style article with almost the same content sixty times.Among them, the outstanding ones should be selected to participate in the top three competitions; the excellent ones should participate in the ranking of the second best;

Sixty papers with names pasted on each group.Jia Daishan's task in the group was very elementary. Although no one said it, he took the initiative to put himself in the position of checking ink marks, formatting, etc. that did not meet the regulations, and wrote preliminary comments that had no reference value.After checking, Jia Daishan recommended several papers to the leader of this group, Zhang Yushu, the head of the Imperial Academy.

Zhang Yushu got into his current position because he knew that Jia Daishan, Duke of Rongguo, was not only a general, but also his cultural lessons were not foolish.In his heart, he never had the slightest thought of looking down on Duke Rong.Now that he saw the test paper recommended to him by Jia Daishan, he immediately read it seriously.

Of the 1 papers in his group, Jia Daishan selected only four.After Zhang Yushu carefully read each and every one of them, he firmly believed that Jia Daishan did not stand at the No. [-] position in front of the saint just by relying on the saint's accompanying reading.Looking at the papers he selected, they all proposed how to solve land annexation, how to limit hidden fields and households, and even set the tax exemption quota for gentry. These papers all catered to the needs of the saint's palace examination.

Zhang Yushu deeply admired Jia Daishan's accuracy in observing the holy will.

After an hour or so, each group exchanged and read the best papers of their own group.There are many excellent papers submitted by each group. The common point of each paper is that it not only points out the problem, but also proposes a preliminary solution.Some methods seem naive, and some really have reference value.Those papers with reference value are passed among the leaders of each group who have the right to grade the papers, and after reading them, they are presented to the saints.

Accompanied by the sage, the prince carefully read and re-read the dozen or so papers.

"Ming Yun, which one do you like to be the champion?"

The saint said this in front of all the courtiers who were reviewing the papers.Jia Daishan immediately prayed to the gods and Buddhas in the sky, Prince, don't be stupid, this number one is the right of a saint.It’s okay for you father and son to have a good relationship now, but in the future there will be estrangement, which is a big crime.

People who have the same idea as Jia Daishan occupy the majority of the hall.People with serious imperial examination backgrounds advocate the system of heir succession.The prince is the son of the Empress Yuan, and he is the leader of all the princes. At present, it is known that the prince is a "bad guy". In addition to Rong Guogong, there is Zhang Taifu.Others haven't found out that the prince has any unworthy virtues and is unworthy of being a prince, so they all hope that the prince can be safe and sound, and everyone can live in peace of mind.

Therefore, almost everyone has the same thoughts as Jia Daishan, hoping that the prince will not fall into the pit of a saint.

The prince smiled back to the sage, "Father, I have put a lot of effort into the handwriting of these papers, the sentences are fluent, and the meanings are similar. I really can't judge the quality of the methods mentioned in the text." , and I want my father to point out the maze."

Pointing to one of the papers, the sage said: "Although the words in this paper are a little fierce, they hit the point. The gentry should pay the same grain as the owner-peasants, and should work as errands to bear the corvee and so on."

Those who have read the paper are stunned in their hearts. Is the saint going to do this?

The prince looked at the sage and said nothing. He didn't believe that the sage would come forward and express his approval of such a drastic approach.As he expected, the sage put this paper aside, took another paper with the best handwriting, and dotted it with cinnabar.

The prince was relieved, and the others were also relieved.This intense paper proposed a fundamental solution, but it was too intense, and the gains outweighed the losses.The other papers are actually more or less the same, the difference is not too big.

The sage lined up these dozens of papers one by one, thought about adding the one just now, and placed it next to the paper of the champion.Everyone knew that this person was still in the emperor's heart, and the saint was reluctant to give up his own heart.

In the end, the sage said to Guo Shangshu, the official examiner of Chunwei, "Let's rank it like this."

A servant came up and removed the names of the papers, and registered the top ten in the book, and today's grading was over.Afterwards, the rankings of the second-class and the third-class will be continued by these marking officers tomorrow.

After dinner on the second day, the sage said to the prince who had stayed in Huangzhuang for a day and came to the Hall of Mental Cultivation to criticize the son: "Chengxian, do you know why I don't choose Hezudao as the number one scholar?"

"Father, is it because the method he proposed is too drastic?"

The sage nodded, "When a king does something, he has to leave room for buffering. It's good to have any solution in one step, but I just can't come up with it first. Do you understand?"

The crown prince nodded, "Father is well-planned. If the cabinet wakes up, for the sake of a century-old plan, it is better to adopt a method that is not worthwhile."

The saint thinks so.

Not only the sage and the prince think so, but also the cabinet ministers.After Xinke Jinshi went to Kuajie, Zhang Taifu, as the chief assistant, summoned the cabinet ministers to his value room.

"You have read all the papers that are so insignificant. Tell me your opinions. The opinions of the cabinet will be submitted tomorrow."

Nobody said anything.

Zhang Taifu turned his attention to his in-laws, Jia Daishan.Jia Daishan grinned, thinking about helping him.

"According to my old Jia, let's simply point out that all the fields are paid for grain. Well, except those under the name of saints, they are all counted in the grain. Under the sky, is it the land of the king; on the shore of the land, there is no king Minister. Under the court's laws, whoever dares to refuse to pay the food, Lao Jia led the army to punish the rebellious minister."

Zhang Taifu has a headache, this Jia Daishan is too slippery.

"The sage wants to figure out how to make the gentry dare not annex the land again."

Jia Daishan slandered Zhang Ying, but he babbled endlessly: "Let's set a quota. A scholar is exempted from the grain quota of [-] mu and exempted from personal corvee. Now all the land is paid grain, and you can have [-] mu of land under your name. Jinshi is [-] mu, and first-rank officials can get [-] mu. The excess will be owned by the imperial court. Those who have no fame and fame, the land under their personal name must not exceed [-] mu."

"What about you old Jia?"

"My country's title of duke is super-grade, and there is a meritorious field bestowed by the court. After the meritorious title is gone, it will be taken back to the imperial court. As for the number of acres of land in my mansion, it is stipulated how much I, the Minister of the Ministry of War, can have. , according to the amount, even if there is an extra acre, there will be no privacy."

Jia Daishan doesn't care about these things, although for the sake of future generations, it is best to pass on thousands of acres of fertile land and wealth.But if the children and grandchildren can't stand upright in the court, sooner or later they will be pondered by others, and they may have to die.He didn't expect that the cabinet minister who was misled by his words, based on his nonsense, drafted a memorial to limit the number of acres under his personal name and presented it to the saint.

The prince was holding the cabinet's Tiantian Memorial, and smiled as he watched it.He had laughed enough before handing the booklet to the saint.

"Father, my ministers found that your cabinet is very courageous. According to their proposal, the imperial court only had about [-] acres of fertile land, which could receive grain taxes. Now there are three or four times more land to pay for grain. .”

The sage read the book carefully, stroked the memorial and said, "There must be Duke Rong's idea in it."

The prince nodded, and only Rong Guogong would ignore what other people would think, and only act according to what he guessed, the mind of a saint.

"Father, if so many fertile lands are paid for grain, will the land rent be lowered? In the future, the imperial court's corvees will also be paid to the corvees?"

The sage was a little surprised by the prince's proposal, the extra money was the imperial court's annual income!

"Father, the fundamental purpose of restricting land annexation is to make the people at the bottom rich. Let them have surplus food for their families, and it is easy to support them in times of disaster, so that they will not be deceived by evil cults with ulterior motives. My son, look at the original The land rent is [-]% to [-]%, now it is better to reduce the tax of the first-class land to [-]% to [-]%. Even so, not only is it more than the original annual income, but also the full amount."

"Where is the meritorious field?"

"It's not wrong to accept it. This is drawn up by the cabinet. Anyone who has a different opinion will be asked to find the cabinet's cabinet to grow old."

The sage was silent for a while, and asked Wei Jiu to preach the decree, inviting the cabinet ministers to the Hall of Mental Cultivation.