July 30, the 23rd year of Guangxu (1897), is the day when the summer heat has not disappeared and the autumn equinox has not risen. Early in the morning, a distinguished guest came to the home of Qu Hongzhen, a cabinet scholar and a waiter of the Ministry of Rites.
Who are you? It is Li Hongzhang, a former governor of Zhili and minister of trade in Nanyang, who was once majestic and powerful, and is now at home because he was held accountable for the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War.
Li. No matter in terms of age or qualifications, Li Hongzhang is Qu Hongzhen's predecessor. Although they were officials in the same dynasty and served in the cabinet (one was a cabinet college student and the other was a cabinet bachelor), they rarely interacted with each other, and they did not have any friendship, after all, they were not people in the same circle, nor were they fellow villagers or the same year. As the saying goes, "If you have nothing to do, you will go to the Three Treasures Hall." "Li Hongzhang personally came to visit, what is the reason? Qu Hongzhen muttered in his heart.
After receiving the report from his subordinates, Qu Hongzhen hurriedly came to the door of the house and greeted Li Hongzhang in person.
The adults in the middle hall are coming, and Hongzhen is not welcome, please forgive the sin. In accordance with the etiquette of officialdom, Qu Hongzhen respectfully greeted Li Hongzhang. Although Li Hongzhang is already idle at home and has no real power in his hands, after all, he is a dignified scholar of Wenhua Palace, and no one dares to slack off.
Qu Hongzhen. Brother Zhi'an is exempt from courtesy, and today Tang suddenly visited, many offenses, please forgive me. Li Hongzhang politely helped Qu Hongzhen up.
What kind of wind has blown you here today, making Pengwan shine. Qu Hongzhen welcomed Li Hongzhang to the study and sat down, and after waiting for the next person to make a cup of fragrant tea, he asked slowly. This is asking Li Hongzhang what he meant.
Li Hongzhang had a mysterious smile on his face. He asked Qu Hongzhen to retreat left and right before he whispered: "Brother, I came to visit today to tell my brother a secret!" ”
Secret? Qu Hongzhen looked at Li Hongzhang suspiciously. He knew that although Li Hongzhang had retreated to the "second line", many ministers in the court were either his protégés or his close friends, and it was not surprising that he wanted to find out what inside information he was going to say, so he became deeply interested in what Li Hongzhang was going to say next.
Brother, the chief examiner of this year's Shuntianfu Township Examination has been decided, but it has not yet been announced, according to the news I heard, it is our brothers who serve as the chief and deputy examiners. Li Hongzhang said happily.
Township examination room. Congratulations to Lord Zhongtang, the examiner must be you. Qu Hongzhen arched his hand and said.
Not necessarily. Li Hongzhang said. He doesn't mind if he is the chief examiner or the deputy examiner, anyway, he is very happy to have the examiner to do it. He continued: "I have been negotiating with China and foreign countries for decades, and I am already very rusty about the kung fu of doing Bagu articles, I really don't know if I can do it? Brother, you are young and well-educated, when the time comes, please be sure to spend more time and make a round for the contemptible. ”
Don't dare, don't dare, the adults in the hall give me a lot of advice! Qu Hongzhen hurriedly said.
The two chatted for a while, and Li Hongzhang got up to say goodbye. After sending Li Hongzhang away, Qu Hongzhen wondered a little in his heart, why was Li Hongzhang so interested in a small township examination examiner?
During the Qing Dynasty, every three years, township examinations were held in provincial capitals across the country. The chief examiner and deputy examiner of the township examination are selected by the imperial court from among the Beijing officials in the cabinet, ministries and courts, and Hanlin Academy. For those Beijing officials who are lower in Yulu, this is a rare "fat shortage". On the one hand, they were able to pay the difference fee to the household in an open manner, about 2,000 taels of silver; On the other hand, when they arrived at the place, the magistrate would prepare various gifts according to the custom, and according to the wealth of the place, it was usually as much as several thousand taels of silver. The sum of these two sums of silver is often tens or even hundreds of times their income.
Therefore, in order to get the opportunity to be the examiner of the township examination, the Beijing officials fought so hard that they lost their demeanor as scholars.
Township test scene. However, Li Hongzhang was born in Hanlin, and was a scholar to lead the army, and he was a military and military strategy all his life, and he was a general and a minister, and he served as the governor of Zhili in the hands of the nine major ministers, and served as the minister of Nanyang trade who held the power of foreign affairs, and also personally built the Beiyang Naval Division, and handled foreign affairs with great influence. Not only that, but he was also awarded the title of first-class earl by the imperial court because of his accumulated exploits in pacifying the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement.
How could such a person who had seen the world be interested in a small township examiner? This made Qu Hongzhen puzzled.
In fact, this is exactly where Li Hongzhang's heart disease lies in his life.
That's right, Li Hongzhang has held many official positions in his life, from the governor of Jiangsu to the governor of Zhili, from the minister of Nanyang trade to the scholar of Wenhuadian University, and the importance and scarcity of these positions are far more important and scarce than the small township examination examiner. However, Li Hongzhang has never been an examiner for the township examination. What's even worse is that the ministers of the same era as Li Hongzhang, such as Zeng Guofan, Weng Tonggong and others, have all served as township examination examiners, what does this make Li Hongzhang think?
As the saying goes, "scarce things are expensive". The more Li Hongzhang has never held such an official position, the more he has a strong interest in this kind of official position.
In the twenty-second year of Guangxu (1896), when Li Hongzhang was appointed as the prime minister, he was walking on the yamen of national affairs, which coincided with the year-end examination of students in Tongwenguan. The person in charge of the Tongwenguan asked the ministers of the Prime Minister's National Affairs Yamen to read the file, and everyone else resigned, but Li Hongzhang happily accepted it.
At that time, the students of Tongwenguan were all poor students who did not get the Jinshi and raised people, and they came to the school to study and mix up every day. Their test papers are also a mess and miserable. Let Li Hongzhang, who was born in Hanlin, come to read the papers, he was really wronged. But he was quite willing, closed the door, did not go out for three days and three nights, devoted himself to grading, and finally ranked seriously.
He didn't have any other thoughts in his heart, and finally got over the addiction of being an examiner.
Li. The next day, on the first day of the eighth month, the holy decree came down, and Qu Hongzhen was released as a scholar in Jiangsu. This means that it is impossible for him to be reappointed as the examiner of the Shuntianfu Township Examination in a short period of time. Then, what Li Hongzhang received must be false information.
Sure enough, on the sixth day of the first month of August, the Ministry of Rites was ordered to announce the list of chief examiners and deputy examiners of the Shuncheon Township Examination, and there was no name of Li Hongzhang in it.
Li Hongzhang was extremely disappointed.
In the twenty-fourth year of Guangxu (1898), Li Hongzhang did not know the news he learned from **, saying that he was going to be appointed as the chief examiner of the examination that year. But after the results came out, he once again "made a bamboo basket empty" - not only did he not become the chief examiner, but he also did not get the position of the minister of grading.
In fact, after the Sino-Japanese First Sino-Japanese War, Li Hongzhang's status in the heart of the Empress Dowager Cixi plummeted. The Empress Dowager Cixi intended to let him sit on the cold bench, so naturally she would not choose him to be the examiner.
In the end, Li Hongzhang embraced this regret and died depressed. After Li Hongzhang's death, Liang Qichao commented with a sigh: "(Li Hongzhang) is in love with this thing in the name of Gai Daixun, which shows that the poison of the imperial examination is deeply involved. ”
It hits the nail on the head.