Chapter 179: Donation to the Prison
But before Wang An and Chongzhen left, Liu Zongzhou still had some hope in his heart and told Wang An, "Brother Wang, I feel like we've known each other for a long time. If you have nothing to do in the future, you can come to Shuntian Mansion for tea!"

Wang An was overjoyed when he heard this. He couldn't even imagine what rank an official of Liu Zongzhou's rank would be in later generations.

Not to mention going up to curry favor with them, you would be driven away by the guards even if they were 80 kilometers away.

Moreover, as Wang An's career developed, he would certainly have more official connections in the future, so he happily agreed.

But he didn't notice that his younger brother Chongzhen was looking at Liu Zongzhou with a playful expression.

Liu Zongzhou pretended not to see it, which fully demonstrated what a people-loving official like is like.

After leaving the government office, Wang An couldn't help but blame him: "My dear brother, what is the level of Lord Liu? What is our level? Although you can find a relationship with him, which proves that you have some friendship, you can't be arrogant because of this!"

Chongzhen was confused and asked blankly: "Why, am I arrogant?"

Wang Chengen said jokingly, "Perhaps the young master's character is too calm and he is seen as arrogant?"

Wang An shook his head and denied it, "He is a dignified third-rank governor of Shuntian Prefecture who invites you to dinner. No matter if he is being polite or sincere, you must seize the opportunity to stay and have a few drinks with him!"

"To be able to establish a relationship with an official of this level, even if we already have a friendship, we must cultivate the relationship!"

Wang An chattered there incessantly, trying hard to instill his life experience from later generations.

Chongzhen was speechless. He finally understood why a great man like Wang An had his property swapped by unscrupulous merchants, and was then blackmailed by two mere clerks and even thrown into jail.

It turned out that it was because of his cousin's mind full of thoughts of seeking good fortune and avoiding danger, and fawning on the powerful. If his brother had been more stubborn, perhaps the outcome would have been different.

If Chongzhen also came from later generations, he might understand that Wang An’s thoughts can be described by one concept, that is, the official-centered ideology.

To put it nicely, it is admiration for the strong; to put it bluntly, it is distorted values ​​​​and the belief that the foundation of this world lies in officials and power.

Once they hear that the other party is connected with public power, they will become afraid or fawn on him.

Even Emperor Chongzhen could not understand Wang An's thoughts and could not help but shake his head for him.

I really don't know why Wang An, a hermit who speaks every word with gems and often makes remarks that shock the world, would be so flattering and perfectly blend these two completely opposite personalities together without any sense of incongruity.

In the end, Chongzhen could only helplessly understand that all masters have some quirks, which are difficult for ordinary people to understand.

However, Wang An made Chongzhen's eyes light up. An idea flashed through his mind, and he said with a smile: "Since my brother loves officialdom so much, why don't you donate to the Imperial College to become a student? After you have achieved fame, maybe you can become an official in the court?"

However, Wang Anan sneered when he heard this. Wang An, who was so excited when talking about a high-ranking official like Liu Zongzhou, was disdainful when he heard the law supervisor:

"There are over ten thousand students in the Imperial College, and some of them have not been appointed to official posts for ten years. The imperial court does not even have extra official posts for the regular students, such as the Yinjian, Jujian, and Gongjian, let alone the regular students!"

"Usually, those who spend this kind of money are the local tycoons who want to gain some status. We don't care about that. We might as well spend the money to buy two more pounds of spareribs to eat."

The so-called Imperial College was an official school run by the imperial court, also known as the Imperial College.

The Imperial Academy was established by Zhu Yuanzhang, the Hongwu Emperor in the early Ming Dynasty, mainly to train talents for the imperial court. In the early Ming Dynasty, the country was in ruins and the local governments had a strong demand for talents, but the formal imperial examinations could never meet the talent needs, so the Imperial Academy was established.

In the early Ming Dynasty, a large number of grassroots officials were selected through the Imperial College.

Among them, Yinjian mainly refers to the descendants of those who died on the battlefield or in the line of duty. Their descendants are allowed to study in the Imperial Academy so that they can have a good future after becoming officials in the future.

The Jujian were mainly selected from the failed Juren, that is, from the Juren who did not pass the Jinshi examination. The selection criteria were "youthful and of good character", and generally the age was controlled under 25 years old. In ancient times, if one could pass the Juren examination under 25 years old, he was undoubtedly a top student and was qualified to be an official.

However, in the Ming Dynasty, one could not usually rise to a high position as an official by entering the court as a juren, and usually stopped at the fifth rank.

Therefore, generally speaking, young and talented candidates would not choose to become officials even if they failed the exam, but would continue to take the imperial examinations.

Before the next imperial examination begins, one can be selected to study in the Imperial Academy.

Gongjian refers to outstanding students (xiucai) sent to the Imperial College by prefectures, states, and counties across the country.

The last option that made Wang An sneer was that one could obtain the qualification to study at the Imperial Academy by donating silver, grain, or horses to the court.

Although in theory, the status of regular students is equal to that of the above three types of students, in reality, regular students are often despised.

Because in order to study in the Imperial Academy, one had to be an outstanding student from all over the country. For example, Wu Cheng'en and Pu Songling in history were both born in the Imperial Academy.

Only poor students or even illiterate people would spend money to buy the title of a student for the sake of face, and naturally they would be despised by other scholars.

If there was still a certain shortage of officials in the imperial court in the mid-Ming Dynasty, these students of the Imperial Academy still had the hope of being selected to serve as minor officials in local areas.

By the late Ming Dynasty, the Juren and Jinshi produced in the imperial examinations every year even had to line up to wait for official positions, let alone discuss these students.

Even if some minor official positions are occasionally released, the Ministry of Personnel will not choose those uneducated regular supervisors for selection.

If there is a choice, priority will be given to selecting from the Yinjian and Jujian, and even the Gongjian will not have much chance.

So spending money on this is really just for the sake of face.

As a pragmatist from later generations, would Wang An, who thought he was extremely shrewd, do such a losing business?
The answer is of course no!

Seeing that Wang An was unwilling, Chongzhen didn't say much, but just glanced at Wang Chengen with a smile on his face.

Wang Chengen understood immediately, glanced at Wang An's back with a smile on his face, and congratulated him silently in his heart: "Master, I wish you a happy entrance to school!"

As the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Chongzhen wanted to arrange an identity as a student of the Imperial Academy for someone, which was just a matter of saying hello and did not cost any money.

Chongzhen even had an even crazier idea, which was to directly issue an edict to hold the Fangzhengxianliang Examination.

However, unlike in the past, the selection of upright and virtuous people was usually conducted on a national scale, with people from all over the country recommending upright and virtuous people to serve as officials in the court.

(End of this chapter)