Chapter 54: The Smoke and Misery
Princess Jiashan was a royal relative, so naturally she had some dignity and shamelessly asked for a title for her daughter.
"I'm sorry to trouble your majesty with this matter. I must ask for an unskillful job in the Imperial Academy."
Emperor Yan: "No trouble, no trouble."
Even if there is no vacancy in the Hanlin Academy, he can still create a vacant position.
He had plenty of official positions and was not short of anything. The only thing he lacked was money.
Everyone thinks that being an emperor is such an awesome thing, but being an emperor has his own hardships. Many unexpected things happen every year, such as droughts, floods, snow disasters, locust plagues, and man-made disasters. Everything requires money, especially wars, which really cost a lot of money.
Spending money is like flowing water, and it gives him a headache just thinking about it.
But now I don’t have to worry about it anymore.
If everyone was as generous as Captain Lin and Miss Zhang, the Great Yan Dynasty would become increasingly prosperous.
However, when Prime Minister Wang and others learned the news, they were all very dissatisfied.
In Prime Minister Wang's view, it was as serious as the sky falling.
Why are all these young girls vying to be officials? Do they think being an official is just playing house?
Being an official is a very serious matter. Back then, he studied hard for many years and went to Beijing to take the imperial examinations many times, sleeping in the open air, before he passed the examination and became an official.
After that, it took him more than 20 years of hard work before he was ranked among the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers and became the prime minister of the dynasty.
He has it easy.
In the court, Prime Minister Wang held the jade tablet in his hand and stood out stubbornly, "Your Majesty, most of us old officials have gone through difficult imperial examinations to stand in this palace, but those young girls don't have to pay anything and just sit back and enjoy the fruits of their labor. This is unfair."
Emperor Yan smiled and said, "Since it is unfair, I will issue an edict to allow women to study hard and take part in the imperial examinations in the future."
Prime Minister Wang was anxious. He just didn't want women to be officials, but the emperor didn't understand him at all.
If women were allowed to take part in the imperial examinations, wouldn't things be even more chaotic? Those women in the harem would cause chaos.
Women are nothing more than tools for carrying on the family line. How can we give them the opportunity to take the imperial examinations?
"Your Majesty, this is not possible. This goes against the rules of our ancestors. Women must not be allowed to take the imperial examinations."
The Emperor of Yan did not really allow women to take part in the imperial examinations. He just deliberately made fun of Prime Minister Wang so that he would be in trouble.
Seeing that he could not persuade Emperor Yan, Prime Minister Wang turned his attention to Minister Zhang.
In the palace, she openly rebuked Minister Zhang: "Girls should stay in the back house and do embroidery. If they are allowed to go out and serve as officials, the whole country will be in chaos. It's ok that Captain Lin is young and ignorant, but you, the Minister Zhang, are joining in the fun."
Someone from Prime Minister Wang's faction immediately stood up and said, "That's right, this is absolutely putting the face of us men on the ground. In the future, women will be keen on becoming officials. Who will give birth to children, who will raise and educate children, and who will serve us?"
Lin Qingyun also stood up to support his father-in-law, Prime Minister Wang: "These two little girls have set a bad example. In the future, more and more women will have ambitions. The Great Yan Dynasty will be messed up by women and the country will no longer be a country."
Zhang Shangshu was close to Lin Qingyun and kicked him directly, "You are the one who is in chaos. Your whole family is in chaos."
The entire Xuanwu Hall was in an uproar.
This time, very few people stood on Zhang Shangshu's side.
Even Feng Yuan, who was related to him, did not dare to stand up and speak for him.
It’s still a problem of concept. Many people cannot accept women serving as officials.
It was an accident that Lin Qianqian became an official, but your Zhang family shouldn't follow suit.
The result was that Minister Zhang debated with many scholars alone.
Emperor Yan did not speak up for Minister Zhang for fear of bringing trouble upon himself. Someone had to bear the public anger, and it was better for those ministers to point their spearheads at Minister Zhang than to collectively attack him as the emperor.
This matter is really serious, so I, the Emperor, will definitely not say much.
Despite the quarrel, Zhang Hanyan finally became an official as she wished and went to do odd jobs in the Hanlin Academy.
Now the people of the entire capital are talking about the issue of women serving as officials. Some criticize it, some envy it, and some even exaggerate it.
Lin Qianqian was the most popular person at the time.
Even the storytellers in the teahouse told stories about her.
Especially the story of Lin Qianqian's battle with the bandit leader, which was exaggerated by the storyteller and made sound fantastic, and some people just liked to listen to it.
Zhang Hanyan was feeling very relaxed. After leaving the government office at noon, she went to a teahouse to listen to stories.
Officials like to hang out in teahouses, and now that she is an official herself, she is naturally qualified to do so.
After entering the private room on the second floor, I ordered a pot of fine scented tea, then leaned on the railing to listen to the storyteller tell stories.
Downstairs, the storyteller was telling the story vividly, "...The leader of the bandits was transformed from a tiger. Nearly a hundred people in the nearby Niujiazhuang were eaten by the monster... Such a ferocious beast harmed the people, even Guanyin Bodhisattva could not bear to see it, so she sent Captain Lin to catch the monster..."
When the storyteller got to the key points, the clapper in his hand crackled loudly.
"…Captain Lin is the Phoenix Goddess of Heaven, so she is naturally not afraid of monsters. The Phoenix Fire she spews out can burn monsters and their souls to ashes, scattering their souls and making them unable to reincarnate. The bandit leader who was transformed from a tiger monster was also shocked and cut off one of his tiger claws to show his surrender."
"Even the bandit leader surrendered, so the remaining bandits were even less to be feared. So Captain Lin alone shocked all the bandits, allowing the imperial court to eradicate the cancer that was harming the area without having to use a single soldier..."
Wow! The audience applauded enthusiastically, like a tide.
Zhang Hanyan was delighted to hear this and directly rewarded him with a small ingot worth ten taels of silver each.
The storyteller was deeply moved by receiving such a generous reward, thinking that ordinary people really like exaggerated and miraculous stories.
He decided to adapt the story into a more magical one in the future, and then he would be able to make more money.
The story of the goddess Lin Qianqian subduing demons quickly spread throughout the streets and alleys.
As Prime Minister Wang had said, the situation developed into a situation where other women in the capital also became restless and began to have improper desires, wanting things that were not meant for women.
Wang Yuyan, the granddaughter of Prime Minister Wang, went to the study in the mansion to beg, "Grandfather, smart people always join when they can't win. Why don't we donate an official position for me? We can't let Lin Qianqian take all the limelight."
Prime Minister Wang was writing when his hand shook and a big black spot appeared on the paper. He was so angry that he picked up a paperweight and chased his granddaughter to beat her.
"I will beat you to death, you unfilial granddaughter, to prevent you from wishing for something that does not belong to you."
For the first time, Wang Yuyan felt a rift with her family. Why could other people’s dreams come true, but for her, it became wishful thinking?
Prime Minister Wang was so angry that he simply took sick leave.
Good, good, Emperor, you insist on having your own way.
What will you do without me, the pillar of the family?
Even many people in Prime Minister Wang's faction followed suit and boycotted court to put pressure on the emperor.
But the emperor didn't feel uncomfortable at all.
Now that there is more and more silver in the national treasury, he has more confidence in what he says.
Moreover, these people were arguing every day about the issue of women becoming officials, which was very annoying. Suddenly, there were fewer people attending the morning court, so it was quite quiet.
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