In the fifth year of Wanli (1577), the results of the Beijing Palace Examination were announced, and Shen Maoxue, a native of Xuancheng, topped the list. Despite Shen Maoxue's outstanding literary talent, it is speculated that he is unlikely to be in the top three.
His success is mainly due to the help of Shoufu Zhang Juzheng.
In May this year, the examination was completed, and the marking work was successfully completed. Zhang Juzheng, the chief prime minister at the time, because his second son Zhang Sixiu also participated in the examination, so according to the regulations, he could not participate in the marking of the papers.
The work of marking the case file was presided over by Zhang Siwei, the second prime minister. Zhang Siwei was introduced into the cabinet by Zhang Juzheng in the third year of Wanli (1575). However, this second prime minister is really just a foil.
When Zhang Siwei entered the cabinet, the empress dowager issued an edict on behalf of the Wanli Emperor, which read: "Zhang Siwei was promoted to the secretary of the Ministry of Rites and a scholar of the Eastern Pavilion, and he will work in the cabinet with the chief prime minister and others." ”
The emperor's edict is an esoteric science, and sometimes the difference in one word can make people understand the deeper meaning. The word "Sui" in the edict obviously widened the distance between him and Zhang Juzheng, so Zhang Siwei showed great respect for Zhang Juzheng and was cautious everywhere.
Zhang Gongzi participated in the examination, and Zhang Siwei took into account the importance that Lord Shoufu attached to his son's ranking, and decided to repeatedly consider the rankings of the first few places, especially Zhang Gongzi's ranking.
But Zhang Gongzi's ranking cannot be too high or too low, because too high will cause adverse consequences, and too low will not be able to explain to Lord Shoufu. Although Zhang Juzheng did not clearly indicate the requirements for his son's ranking, Zhang Siwei still made the following arrangements with trepidation: Song Zongyao in the first place, Lu Kejiao in the first place, and Shen Maoxue in the third place; The second first place Zhang Sixiu ......Zhang Siwei felt that although Zhang Sixiu's writing was mediocre, some people had already questioned his intentions in the position of the second class.
Although Zhang Juzheng was not involved in this matter, and the exam papers had not been opened, he soon learned that his son was placed in fourth place. Zhang Juzheng is not satisfied with this, and hopes that his son can enter Sanding Jia.
In order to achieve this goal, Zhang Juzheng began to act a year ago, secretly recruiting the world's well-known sons to be schoolmates with his son, and they were inseparable, so as to expand his son's influence and enhance the world's impression of Zhang Sixiu, so that he would be among the best without arousing the suspicion of the world.
In order to achieve the goal, Zhang Juzheng specially sent Tang Xianzu and Shen Maoxue and others. Tang Xianzu and Shen Maoxue were originally friends, and they understood Shoufu-sama's intentions, but they had different attitudes towards this matter.
Tang Xianzu has a tenacious personality, full of confidence, and is unwilling to do things that are obedient to others; And Shen Maoxue is older than Tang Xianzu, and he is eager to achieve fame and realize his ideals, so he is very willing to seize this opportunity to get close to the real power.
Therefore, Zhang Sixiu, Shen Maoxue and other celebrities began to have intimate contacts, as if they had become celebrities. Zhang Juzheng believes that after full preparation, entering the Sanding Jia, when the champion is too obvious, the best result is to become the leader, if not, Tanhua is also acceptable.
After the end of the imperial examination, the most important link is to "read the papers", in which the first assistant and the second assistant take turns to read out the examination papers of the first few places in front of the emperor, and then the emperor personally decides the ranking.
During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, when the ministers read out the examination papers of Song Zongyao and Lu Kejiao in turn, Zhang Juzheng somehow conveyed an order to the steward eunuch, asking him to suddenly pass the order "not to read".
In this case, Zhang Juzheng stepped forward as the first assistant and completed the last procedure, he looked like nothing happened, but in fact he put the unread scroll of Shen and Zhang on top of Song and Lu, and handed it to the emperor's throne.
Because the young Wanli Emperor was very in awe of Zhang Juzheng, he did not change the order, and ordered the imperial pen in turn. In this way, Shen Maoxue became the champion, Zhang Sixiu became the leader, and Song and Lu were demoted to Tanhua and Chuanyu respectively.
Although no one dared to say anything at the time, the courtiers felt very unhappy afterwards and began to talk about it. Faced with this situation, Zhang Juzheng didn't care, but said to people: "Zhang Puzhou (Zhang Siwei is from Puzhou) was promoted to the cabinet by me, why are you reluctant to arrange my son in the Sanding Jia?" ”
Shen Maoxue's literary talent is unmatched, but if he were to be judged according to the usual selection, he might only be ranked third. However, among the many talents, he was ranked third, which may also have something to do with his relationship with Shousuke.
Zhang Juzheng wanted to win a better ranking for his son, but Shen Maoxue's reputation rose and he was promoted from Tanhua to champion.