The Hall of Merit had the Diligent Room, which was different from the Imperial College. It was for the children of the Zhao family to study. Because the legitimate princes, other than the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace, had to be conferred the title of Prince of the Eastern Palace, the Diligent Room was where the children of the Prince of the Capital studied. A small number of descendants of officials who were conferred the title of Marquis were also allowed to enter this place, which was known as the Little Imperial Study. The Diligent Room had the two positions of Junior Tutor and Junior Tutor leading the study of politics. In addition, there were more than 20 teachers with high status who taught the Confucian classics and were personally appointed by the Emperor to be the personal teacher of a certain prince or descendant. All of them were great writers of the dynasty. Occasionally, there would be a knowledgeable and highly respected Dahuang who would enter to give a lecture. That group of dragon sons and grandsons, as well as the children of nobles and nobles, entered the diligent room at the age of rushing into the age. Every day they would study for ten hours, day after day, year after year, all the way until they were married and conferred nobility. Regardless of whether it was winter or summer, they studied without stopping. This tradition had been unshakable for the past twenty years, from the previous Emperor to the current Emperor. Moreover, the rules of the Diligent Room were complex and extremely strict. The students who entered the room did not hold a fan in summer or add charcoal in winter. Regardless of their status, they had to bow to the teachers they met on the way. If they made a minor mistake, they would be punished with a "bamboo punishment". If the current Emperor wrote a couplet, "Stand with sincerity, learn the truth" and hung it on both sides. Other than the obscure prince Zhao Kai, all of the children, including the Crown Prince Zhao Zhuan and the Eldest Prince Zhao Wu, had spent a long time in the Diligent Room. If the position of Junior Tutor and Junior Tutor was said to be extraordinary and was expected to be conferred the title of Marquis, then the teachers of the Diligent Room were worthy of being called the Emperor's teacher. As for the two positions of Junior Tutor and Junior Tutor, they had always been empty. The two masters of the Song family had dominated the literary world for thirty years, but they still could not obtain this position. The previous Junior Tutor, Ma Rong, was the teacher of the previous Emperor and the current Emperor. He was not well known outside of the capital, but four years ago, when Ma Rong died of illness, the Emperor and the Empress personally went to the mourning hall of the Ma family to wear mourning clothes and keep vigil for a night.
After Ma Rong's death, the positions of Junior Tutor and Junior Protector were empty. The nobles of Tai 'an City all thought that Qi Yanglong, who had just entered the capital, would temporarily assume the position of Junior Protector as a transitional position between the past and the future, and then become the official leader of the Liyang Dynasty in one fell swoop. However, a "young man" who didn't even have the qualifications to assume the position of Junior Protector abruptly barged into everyone's eyes and took the position of Junior Protector. This person had obtained the title of Jinshi at the tail end of the Yong Hui era, but he was far less eye-catching than the top three. He had entered the Hanlin Academy and served as the Yellow Gatekeeper, but he was also lukewarm. It wasn't until he became the Daily Librarian of the Imperial Study in the Forbidden City that he received a few more glances from the important figures in the capital. However, that was all. Later on, this person was quietly promoted to the Minister of Meritorious Contributions Department, assisting the Minister of Personnel, Zhao Youling, and his old superior, "Prime Minister," Yin Maochun. He had successively participated in the Imperial Investigations and the Local Great Evaluations, two major events that were enough to determine the status of a fourth rank official in Liyang. This scholar, who could be considered a young man in the imperial court, was the one who truly made people speechless. In the Imperial Investigations that were held once every three years, this person still didn't reveal himself. However, in the South Great Evaluations, this person was truly vicious and merciless, removing the official status of the Governor of Pingzhou and six County Governors in one fell swoop. It had only been three months, and he was quickly transferred back to the capital. Otherwise, everyone in the court believed that this person would have died on the way to the South. So much so that when he became the diligent Junior Protector of the House, most people were numb to it. This person's path of promotion in the officialdom was too obscure, leaving no opportunity for people to give him a cold shoulder. In the end, people only knew that he had married a nameless princess a few years ago, and that she was a relative of the imperial family. In the imperial court, he had never participated in the struggle between factions, nor was he close to civil and military officials. He had never interacted with the eunuchs in the palace, not even once drinking wine with prostitutes.
There were very few people who wanted to get to the bottom of things, and after they learned the truth, they became more and more confused. This person was actually from Beiliang? Originally, it was already very surprising that the court had produced Jin San Lang, who had made a meteoric rise. Unexpectedly, this person's fame was even greater than that. It should be known that Jin Lanting's path of promotion could not be said to be glorious. It was said that first, he had relied on a recommendation letter from the old Prince Liang to enter the officialdom in the capital. Later, he had squeezed his way into the government through the elegant tricks of Lanting Shuxuan. And as a fellow countryman of the Right Chancellor of the Imperial College, he had a clean background, and his path of promotion was open and clean. Even though he had married a princess, there had not been any rumors of a husband depending on his wife's status. And over the years, he had held several positions in the capital. Whether it was the short term Huangmen of the Hanlin Academy, the long term Eastern Palace Assistant Lecturer, or the even shorter term Household Assistant Manager, he had always been a scholar who was quite close to the imperial family. It was likely that even if he were to shout on the streets that he was from Beiliang, no one would be willing to believe him.
He was a scholar born in Beiliang, Chen Wang.
Of course, nowadays, everyone in the capital should respectfully address him as "Chen Shaobao".
Today, in the Diligent Room, it was only a quarter to five in the morning. The sky was still dusky, but the sound of reading could already be heard. The Diligent Room was divided into upper, middle, and lower rooms. Generally speaking, six to nine years old were in the lower room, ten to fifteen years old were in the middle room, and fifteen years old and above were in the upper room. Among them, the age of the women was calculated separately. Only when the men and women were married and had obtained the approval of the teachers could they withdraw from the school. Today was Confucian Day. In each of the three rooms, there was an elder reading the classics of the Confucian sage Zhang Sheng. The degree of difficulty was naturally different. Outside the lower room of the Diligent Room stood a "young scholar" wearing a purple robe and a mutton-fat jade belt bestowed by the emperor. He looked at the young children who were shaking their heads and doing their best to recite the classics. According to the rules set by the previous emperor, they were not allowed to wear a marten hat or fur coat in the room. The winter cold was bone-piercing. At this time, there was only a small copper stove placed under the teacher's desk. Most of the children who were born with the same surname as the country were no different from the children of poor families attending private schools. Most of their cheeks were frozen red, and their hands and feet were trembling. Taking advantage of the time when the teacher was reading, they hurriedly lowered their heads and blew a mouthful of hot air on their frozen fingers. Outside the room, in addition to this scholar who was dressed in special clothes and was quite unfamiliar to the eyes of ordinary people, there was also an old eunuch in the palace who was allowed to wear a red python robe. He stood outside carefully. The old eunuch was a little absent-minded and did not notice the arrival of the scholar. This was not surprising. He said that he had to keep an eye on the Diligent Room in case of accidents, but he had been standing here for more than ten years. He had changed seven or eight robes. After more than ten years, the affairs of the palace had always been strict, so how could there be any accidents? No matter how they acted outside after coming of age, the domineering children of the Zhao family all stood respectfully like him when they were studying, while they sat there obediently reading and reciting books. Even famous princes and princesses like Zhao Wu and Zhao Fengya had to tuck their tails between their legs after entering the Diligent Room and sitting down. The old eunuch looked outside the room and saw that a large red lantern had been hung on a branch in the courtyard after winter. He sighed quietly. He had heard that it was not peaceful outside. The remaining evildoers of the Guangling Underworld had found a little girl surnamed Jiang from somewhere and revived the country just like that. Many of the old fellows in the palace who had escaped from the West Chu Imperial Palace back then were now trembling in fear. When they were free, they did not even dare to drink a few mouthfuls of wine, saying that they were afraid that others would misunderstand them and think that they were drowning their sorrows in wine. It seemed that the barbarians in the west were also not peaceful. If the big barbarian Beimang wanted to make trouble, the small barbarian Beiliang also wanted to make trouble. He could be considered to have seen some storms in his life, but he just could not understand why these fellows did not want to live a peaceful life. Why did they have to make trouble blindly? Even that Grand Secretary was obsessed. Say, you, Bi Yan, are not even as old as me, a eunuch, but you have already achieved such a high position. Why are you still not satisfied? Isn't this clearly seeking your own death? For no reason, the old eunuch thought of the flowers and plants in the courtyard and could not help but sigh. He thought to himself, Grand Secretary, human lives were not like those plants. If they were gone this winter, they would be there again next spring.
At this time, a small and tiptoeing figure appeared outside the courtyard. He bent over and trotted in. As a result, when he saw the old eunuch who looked like a door-god, he immediately looked as if his parents had died. The old eunuch only dared to laugh in his heart. This little fellow was the grandson of Commandery Prince Feng. Although he was not the eldest grandson of the eldest branch, he was still very doted on. However, this child had always been a punching bag in the lower branch. After all, the title of Commandery Prince Feng could frighten people outside the palace, but here, no one took it seriously. In addition, the little fellow's body was weak and his temperament was soft. He was bullied all day long to the point that he did not dare to go home and complain to his elders. Even if he changed into a new pair of festive boots, they would be trampled into old ones by those naughty fellows. He looked at the child's sickly pale face and his pitiful appearance as he desperately covered his mouth to prevent himself from coughing. Although the old eunuch felt sorry for him, he, a eunuch, did not dare to violate the rules set by the previous emperor. If he was late once, he would be punished with bamboo. If he was late twice, he would be demoted. If he was late three times, he would be demoted again. Until he had no more rank to demote, he would be directly expelled from the diligent room. About ten years ago, in the hands of the Emperor, there was a lawless old prince who was the only legitimate grandson. He was directly demoted to a commoner.
The old eunuch stopped the sweaty grandson of Commandery Prince Feng. With a cold face, he said, "If I remember correctly, this is the second time you have been late. You go in first. I will record it and send it to the Imperial Clan Court. "
The child coughed and said intermittently, "Grandfather Liu, I really did not mean to be late … I, I have a cold …"
The old eunuch waved his hand. He was not willing to listen to the child's explanation. The royal family was not a big or small matter. This was the principle that the elders in the palace had taught the younger generation with countless bloody facts. He was only a servant. Why should he seek trouble for himself?
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