Chapter 88 Chapter 88 In the hall, Emperor Wu of Jin sat on the dragon throne...
In the main hall, Emperor Wu of Jin sat on the dragon throne with a dignified look on his face.
The top three candidates walked side by side in the first row and knelt down after entering the hall.
The first person on the right in the back row is Xue Fenglin, who ranked fourth in the first class.
Xue Fenglin had always been famous for his handsome appearance. Emperor Wu of Jin had seen him several times and would never forget him.
At this moment, he looked around the hall and saw that all the new scholars were kneeling on the ground with their heads bowed, looking very cautious. He was the only one who was kneeling on the ground, but he had his head raised high, looking at him, and asked, "Xue Fenglin, you have been looking at me, but you are not satisfied with your result of being the fourth in the first class?"
The reason why Emperor Wu of Jin asked Xue Fenglin such a question was actually because Xue Fenglin performed very well in the written examination. If he was ranked according to the paper, he would be well-deserved to be the new top scorer.
He had his own calculations in mind, and deliberately followed Lord Qian's words and moved Xue Fenglin's place to the back. Although he was finally ranked fourth in the first class, I still felt a little regretful.
Judging from Xue Fenglin's insights into common affairs, if he were not a prince but a commoner, he would be even more useful.
If an ordinary person was questioned like this by Emperor Wu of Jin in the hall, he would be so nervous that he would be unable to speak.
But Xue Fenglin was not in a hurry when he heard this. He just kowtowed to Emperor Wu of Jin and said, "Your Majesty, with my talent and knowledge, it is already a blessing from Your Majesty that I can get the first place. I just had something in my mind to ask Your Majesty, so I forgot everything and inadvertently admired Your Majesty's majesty. I hope Your Majesty will forgive me."
Today is the joyous day for the new Jinshi to pass the imperial examination. Emperor Wu of Jin certainly cannot punish anyone at will on such a day.
Although Xue Fenglin's answer was aggressive, it was acceptable. Emperor Wu of Jin nodded, and became curious about what Xue Fenglin wanted to ask him.
However, there are more important matters at this time, such as the imperial examination ceremony and the appointment of an official position, so this matter can only be put aside for the time being.
Emperor Wu of Jin then gave a look to the eunuch Su beside him, who immediately took out a blank imperial edict from the side and asked the young eunuchs to prepare pens and ink, and serve Emperor Wu of Jin in granting official positions to dozens of new scholars in the palace.
The process of appointing officials starts from the last of the three ranks.
The first thing to consider is appearance. Those with physical defects, facial flaws or who are too old will only be given the title of Jinshi but will not be allowed to serve as officials. This eliminated four people at once.
Among the remaining people, they were given official positions starting from the last one and moving upwards, starting with some doctors, county lieutenants and other small officials of the lower ninth rank.
There was no need for Emperor Wu of Jin to arrange such official positions personally; he only needed the assistance of the ministers around him.
Those Jinshi who had connections in Beijing had their families ask someone to help them in advance, so they were naturally arranged to work in some miscellaneous positions such as recorder of the Imperial Academy in Beijing and doctor of calligraphy. Those Jinshi from other places who had no connections were arranged to serve as minor officials such as county lieutenants and chief clerks in various places.
If you are lucky, you may be assigned to a prosperous place and become a local boss. As long as you have political achievements, you will return to Beijing and be promoted one day.
Those who are unlucky will be assigned to remote areas, where they will not be able to achieve anything and will spend their entire lives in misery.
After the third-class Jinshi candidates were arranged, the second-class Jinshi candidates were basically arranged by Emperor Wu of Jin himself.
Those Jinshi who ranked in the second class were basically granted official positions of the ninth rank or above by Emperor Wu of Jin. Of course, the positions in the capital are mainly minor ones such as proofreader and grand master, while outside the capital are positions with some real power such as county magistrate and supervisor.
After the second-class Jinshi have been arranged, the first-class Jinshi and the top three will be arranged.
Emperor Wu of Jin first arranged the candidates who were ranked behind Xue Fenglin one by one. When it was Xue Fenglin's turn, he thought for a moment and asked, "Xue Fenglin, I saw your policy paper and proposed various decisions, saying that you wanted to do something practical for the people of Jin. Are you determined to do so?"
Xue Fenglin nodded without hesitation when he heard this and said, "I do have this idea."
Since he last saw Shen Xuan giving advice to the disaster victims in the suburbs of Beijing, he had some realizations in his heart. He was indeed more concerned about people's livelihood and was also willing to enter the officialdom to make some achievements.
After hearing this, Emperor Wu of Jin asked again: "If I give you two jobs to choose from, which one would you choose?"
Emperor Wu of Jin took out two pieces of white paper and wrote a line on each.
Eunuch Su, who was serving on the side, took the two notes to Xue Fenglin and asked him to take a look.
Xue Fenglin took a look and saw that one piece of paper stated that he was the fifth-rank prefect of Sarawak Prefecture, and the other stated that he was the seventh-rank editor of the Hanlin Academy.
At first glance, the fifth-rank prefect seems to be of a higher rank, but Sarawak is located in the south of Dajin, and is a very remote and poor place. The job of a seventh-rank editor in the Hanlin Academy not only allows one to retain his position in the capital, but in previous years it has always been a good job only available to the top three in the imperial examination, namely the top three.
To a certain extent, the Hanlin Academy is the emperor's secretariat. All the successful candidates who enter the Hanlin Academy have the opportunity to become close ministers to Emperor Wu of Jin.
In the past, many people who entered the Hanlin Academy were promoted rapidly. Even if one is not doing well in life, as long as nothing goes wrong, one can still become a minister of one of the six ministries by accumulating seniority.
This is such a good thing that everyone, as long as the new scholars are not stupid, would want to get in.
However, the Hanlin Academy has always been controlled by the clean-minded faction in the court, and all the officials therein are also from the clean-minded faction. A child of a noble family like Xue Fenglin will definitely not get any advantage from them if he enters there.
Moreover, this job was just a sinecure in the civil service, which was inconsistent with Xue Fenglin's idea of doing something practical for the people of Dajin.
Xue Fenglin was stunned for a moment, looking at the two notes and thinking for a while.
Is Emperor Wu of Jin deliberately testing himself?
He recalled everything that happened today and carefully considered Emperor Wu of Jin's intentions.
Emperor Wu of Jin could have simply given him a ranking of tenth in the first class and arranged an idle position for him in the capital. However, in the end he was given a top fourth place and was asked some tricky questions twice.
Although this difficult choice between the two made it difficult for him to make a decision, the position of editor in the Hanlin Academy was by no means a bad job. No matter how poor and remote Sarawak was, it was still a fifth-rank prefect, which was exactly in line with Xue Fenglin's idea of doing something practical for the people of Dajin.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them and saying, "I vote for the governor of Sarawak."
After saying that, he took out the note with the name of the Sarawak Governor written on it.
The court officials in the hall were surprised when they saw this, and couldn't help but whisper to each other. At this time, Emperor Wu of Jin smiled and said, "Well, you are ambitious. But if you are sent out, you will not be able to return to the capital without achievements. If your father knew about it, I don't know what he would think."
"My father must be deeply honored that I can serve the Great Jin and repay His Majesty's grace." Xue Fenglin spoke again at this time.
"In that case, I will fulfill your wish and appoint you as the governor of Sarawak." Emperor Wu of Jin said as he wrote on the imperial edict, finally appointing Xue Fenglin to the position.
Afterwards, according to convention, the top three were appointed editors in the Hanlin Academy.
After the appointment of officials is completed, the imperial examination ceremony is officially over. Eunuch Su then walked up to Xue Fenglin and said, "My lord, please follow me."
Xue Fenglin hurriedly followed Eunuch Su all the way to the Imperial Study. After waiting at the door for a while, he saw Emperor Wu of Jin coming in from outside. After seeing him, he said, "Xue Fenglin, you said you wanted to ask me for something today. Now you can tell me. What is it?"
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Xue Fenglin hurriedly followed him in. Just as he was about to kneel, Emperor Wu of Jin waved his hand and said, "Forget it, no need to be so polite. Please take a seat. You are also a junior who grew up under my care. There is no need for so many rules in this kind of occasion."
Xue Fenglin sat down as ordered, and then he said to Emperor Wu of Jin in a very serious manner: "Your Majesty, I would like to ask you to grant me a marriage!"
Emperor Wu of Jin looked up at him, paused for a moment, and then frowned and said, "I remember that there have been rumors in the capital that you are related to the son of the Shen family. Could it be that you have fallen in love with someone else, so you come to ask me for help?"
"If that's the case, I can't agree to this. After all, Chen Ge'er was the one your biological mother had betrothed to. As her biological son, you should keep your promise and avoid being criticized."
Emperor Wu of Jin was old, and after meeting Shen Xuan these days, he naturally remembered the kindness of Duke Shen.
He already felt a little guilty towards Shen Xuan, so he thought that marrying him to a talent like Xue Fenglin was a way of compensating him.
Xue Fenglin heard this and said quickly: "Your Majesty has misunderstood. I did not ask for this marriage from anyone else, but from this Brother Chen."
"It's because Brother Chen has no parents at home, and no one in his natal family supports him. I'm afraid that if I marry him like this, he will be wronged in my family because of his status. That's why I want to ask Your Majesty to grant the marriage personally, so that he can marry here in a dignified manner."
Emperor Wu of Jin did not expect that Xue Fenglin came to ask him for this matter. He was stunned for a moment, then looked at Xue Fenglin carefully before saying, "You are really attentive to that Chen brother. There is a huge difference between your status and he is of no help to you. He is also a boy who is not easy to give birth to. Just because your biological mother arranged a marriage for you before, can you treat him like this?"
Xue Fenglin then said with a burning gaze: "I dare not deceive your majesty. Brother Chen has good character and noble personality. He is a person I respect and love in my heart. I don't care about other mundane matters. I only want to marry him in this life. Please grant your majesty's wish."
Emperor Wu of Jin was stunned and silent for a long time. He sighed and said with a look of relief on his face: "When I saw you in the past, I thought you were always a smooth and calm person. I didn't expect that you also have this kind of temperament."
"You are a good child, and Chen Xuan is also good. It is a blessing for him to marry you. You must remember what you said today and treat him well. I agree to your request."
At this point, Emperor Wu of Jin summoned Eunuch Su and asked him to bring an imperial edict and prepare to write a marriage letter to Xue Fenglin and Shen Xuan.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Xue Fenglin got what he wanted and was filled with joy. He stood up, knelt on the ground and kowtowed to express his gratitude.
When Emperor Wu of Jin saw this, he shook his head and said, "Look at your expression. You seem happier than if you were an official. This is really unbelievable!"
Although he said this, there was a hint of joy on his face.
First, Shen Xuan had someone to rely on, and he also put down a burden in his heart. Secondly, knowing that young talents like Xue Fenglin have weaknesses actually made him feel more at ease. Such people are easier to use and can be trained to become a future key official of the Jin Dynasty.
"Shen Xuan's biological mother, Jiang, often entered the palace when she was young, and the Empress Dowager watched her grow up." Emperor Wu of Jin said, "Since you want him to marry in glory, I will grant him the right to marry out of the palace. Such honor is only available to princesses in the palace. I'm sure he won't dare to be looked down upon in the future."
After Emperor Wu of Jin finished speaking, Eunuch Su hurriedly took notes. Afterwards, he was rewarded with 100 taels of gold, a set of huanghuali furniture, a number of imperial bowls, plates and utensils, as well as clothes, fabrics, dry goods, wine, etc.
This generous reward is comparable to the gift bestowed by the emperor on a first-rank official when he marries his daughter. Xue Fenglin also thanked them one by one on behalf of Shen Xuan.
After the marriage certificate was finished, Emperor Wu of Jin waved his hand and said in a good mood: "Okay, go ahead. The marriage certificate will be sent to the Xue family today."
"Thank you, my lord!" Xue Fenglin kowtowed again to express his gratitude to Emperor Wu of Jin before turning around and leaving happily.
Xue Fenglin had long known that Emperor Wu of Jin would agree to the marriage between him and Shen Xuan.
Emperor Wu of Jin hated factions among his ministers the most. His proposal to marry Shen Xuan would reduce the possibility of factions, which was something Emperor Wu of Jin was more than happy to do.
As soon as Xue Fenglin left the palace, he went straight to Shen Xuan to report the good news, while on the other side, the marriage certificate and the imperial edict of appointment from the palace were sent directly to the Marquis' Mansion.
Before Xue Fenglin returned home, the news that he had volunteered to be the governor of Sarawak had already spread widely in the palace and had even reached the ears of Marquis Xue.
When Lord Xue heard that he had given up on the position of editor in the Hanlin Academy and was going to Sarawak to be the prefect, he almost had a heart attack.
I just think Xue Fenglin is so stupid that he gave up the promising job in the Hanlin Academy and chose a hard job that seems to have a high rank but actually has no future!
Before he could adjust himself, he received a marriage certificate sent by the eunuch in the palace. It was only said that Emperor Wu of Jin granted marriage to Xue Fenglin and Shen Xuan, and asked Shen Xuan to marry out of the palace. After the two of them had their wedding, Xue Fenglin went to Sarawak to take up his post.
Lord Xue’s eyes went blurry and he almost fainted. Fortunately, he was supported by the servant nearby and sat on the chair.
After receiving the imperial edict and sending the eunuch away, Lord Xue could not help shaking his hands and said to the butler beside him with an angry look on his face: "Go! Where is Xue Fenglin now? Why don't you call him back for me quickly?"
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