Regardless of the dynasty, the officialdom always follows a strict hierarchy.

For example, when coming to listen to the lecture today, the higher the rank of the officials, the later they arrived.

After the two scholars went in, the third-rank assistant ministers, temple ministers, deputy censors-in-chief, and secretaries of the Ministry of Public Security came one after another as if they had made an appointment.

Among these people, Zhao Hao knew quite a few, including Wang Bengu, Tan Lun, Zhu Daqi, and the Shuntian Prefecture Governor Cao Sanyang.

After a moment of hesitation, he straightened his clothes and walked over to salute the big guys.

Maybe it was because they felt too good about themselves, or because they knew that he was now a father's son, but the big guys were very polite to Zhao Hao.

Especially Cao Sanyang, who actually held Zhao Hao's hand and said a few words of New Year's greetings to him.

This made Zhao Hao flattered.

After a while, the officials from various departments arrived one after another.

Zhao Hao is even less qualified to contact these big guys.

Not to mention him, even Shen Zhuangyuan and Chef Wang were not qualified to come forward, so the latter introduced them to Zhao Hao in a low voice:

"The seven ministers have come together. Apart from the court meetings, we can only see them this year. The two in front, the fatter one is the Grand Marshal Lei Bu Tang, and the other one is the Grand Minister of Civil Affairs Ma Bu Tang."

"The tall man in the middle is the Grand Secretary Mao Butang. The one on his left is the Grand Marshal Huo Butang."

"The last three, the one in the middle is Grand Chancellor Yang Tianguan, to his right is Grand Minister of the Imperial Clan Gao Butang, and to his left is Chief Censor Wang of the Metropolitan Procuratorate."

In this era, people didn't speak politely, and officials were addressed by nicknames. Fortunately, Zhao Hao was a graduate of a professional school and could understand. He matched the names in his memory with the living characters in front of him one by one:

They are Minister of Works Lei Li; Minister of Revenue Ma Sen; Minister of Punishments Mao Kai; Minister of War Huo Ji; Minister of Rites Gao Yi; Minister of Personnel Yang Bo, and Left Censor-in-Chief Wang Ting.

Uh, the seven ministers of this term are still too weak. Except for Old Yang, none of them can fight... We have to wait a few years until those influential figures come to power, and then the court of the Ming Dynasty will be interesting.

Zhao Hao secretly evaluated the great man in front of him with the same eyes as he evaluated Ms. Qin Huai.

These thighs are too thick to hug, so I can only satisfy my craving in my heart...

~~

Zhao Hao was fantasizing about the changes in the court in a few years when suddenly someone patted him on the shoulder.

He was startled and turned around to see that it was Wu Shilai.

"Uncle Shi, you're going to scare people to death."

"Please be considerate of your uncle who has been busy all night." Wu Shilai said with a hoarse voice, holding his arm and laughing softly:

"Today's meeting is only slightly lower than the grand court meeting. Even many envoys from vassal states are here. You're sitting in the first row. Are you nervous?"

"Of course not. I want to trade with someone." Zhao Hao said with a smile, "How about we trade?"

"I'm busy with the arrangements, so I don't have time to sit down. Besides, I'm not qualified to sit here." Wu Shilai chuckled and pointed to a cushion in the second row behind Zhao Hao, saying, "My boss is sitting in the second row."

"Oh?" Zhao Hao couldn't help but be surprised. Although there were few cushions in the first row, there were still thirty-six of them. Even if all the bigwigs in the court were here, the governor of Shuntian Prefecture, the father and mother of the capital, would not be unable to sit in the first row...

"There are many tricks here, you will understand them later." Wu Shilai smiled and quickly got to the point:

"Today is the first day of the lecture, and it is also the most important day. Not only will the Master personally take the stage to give lectures, but the leaders of the seven schools of mind learning will also take turns to give lectures. By the time they finish, it will be almost afternoon, and then it will be your turn to take the stage."

"The finale?" Zhao Hao couldn't close his mouth.

"That's not the case. You still have two seniors, Mr. Xushan and Mr. Longxi, behind you. The two elders and your brother Zhao Zhongcheng are the three direct disciples of Master Yangming who were still alive. So you three will comment on the seven schools of thought to see which school's explanation of the truth is closest to Master Yangming's original intention..."

"Oh..." Zhao Hao suddenly realized that today was not about the School of Mind competing with the School of Principles, but a debate among the seven major schools within the School of Mind.

The three disciples who had received personal instruction from Wang Yangming were the referees of this competition.

This is a really offensive job.

No wonder the elder brother’s speech was full of general talks about the seven schools of thought, and his comments were only superficial...it turned out that he didn’t want to offend anyone.

"Didn't Zhao Zhongcheng give you the manuscript?" Seeing Zhao Hao didn't speak, Wu Shilai thought he was afraid and hurriedly comforted him:

"Don't be nervous, just read from the script. No one will mind if you make a mistake."

"Yeah." Zhao Hao nodded, and thought to himself that he hoped they could be more tolerant of him...

"After you finish speaking, the master will praise you, saying that you are young and promising, talented and learned, and a rising star in Wangxue, etc...."

Wu Shilai patted Zhao Hao's shoulder vigorously, and said with envy: "With the comments from Master, your future career will be smooth sailing."

"Yeah." Zhao Hao nodded excitedly, but he secretly felt regretful in his heart. It's a pity that this young master only wants to be a second-generation official...

"Then, someone will take over the topic and say that your poems are excellent, and even Wang Yanzhou praised them highly." Wu Shilai whispered, "They will also recite your poem 'The Wind and Thunder of the Nine Provinces' and ask the master to comment on it. The master will be very interested and will recite the poem he showed you impromptu, and then you will sing along excitedly on the spot. After you finish reciting, you will kneel down and pay homage to the prime minister on the spot. This will be a good story..."

But Zhao Hao's mouth twitched when he heard this. Damn, this is different from what we agreed?

I thought I was just going to sing along from the audience, but I never thought I would have to go on stage and perform a monkey show in front of 5,000 people?

And I am still that monkey...

If I really follow this process, it doesn’t matter if I lose face or not, but my mother will be disgraced.

People would say that she adopted a monkey as her godfather.

Now I only want to pretend to be a son, not a grandson...

But at this point, he couldn't say no.

Wu Shilai also felt that the last request was a bit excessive.

In fact, he had mentioned to Xu Fan that he shouldn't let Zhao Hao act so servile, but for some reason, the young minister insisted on having his own opinion and made Zhao Hao perform like this in public.

Of course, Xu Fan's words were not without reason. He said that Zhao Hao was just a teenager, and it was natural for him to kneel before the old Prime Minister in terms of age and status. Not kneeling would be rude...

What's more, Lord Xu also helped him to eliminate a disaster before it became apparent, so it was completely understandable that Zhao Hao behaved a little too much.

Wu Shilai had no way to refute, so he had to pass the message to Zhao Hao, then squeezed his shoulders and said, "After this, I will treat your grandfather's reinstatement as my own business."

"Thank you." Zhao Hao nodded and smiled. He was very satisfied when he saw the apology in Uncle Wu's eyes.

Overall, Uncle Wu is still a good person.

I hope that after today, uncle will not become my enemy...

ps. Chapter 1, please give me monthly tickets and recommendation tickets~~~