lcionline Chapter 444 Women's Imperial Examination
Chapter 444 Women's Imperial Examination
As soon as these words were spoken, even the slowest person among the crowd understood instantly - this time, the emperor wanted to protect Lin Qiao even if she was indeed a woman who wore men's clothes to take the imperial examination.
Moreover, judging from the reactions of the emperor and his wife, as well as Lin Qiao herself, before and after this incident, it is very likely that she is a woman, at least more than 80%.
The scene suddenly became silent for a moment.
Before everyone could react to the emperor's sarcastic words.
Minister Xi spoke before everyone else, "During the reign of Emperor Shizong of the previous dynasty, there was also a woman who participated in the imperial examination and made it onto the list, but the previous dynasty was closed-minded and conservative, so the female candidate was only given the title of Ruren by Emperor Zhongzong and then sent back home, and she never entered the government."
As soon as he finished speaking, another minister couldn't wait to take over the conversation: "Since there is a precedent here, we might as well follow it today. If...if Lin Huiyuan is indeed a woman, we can also..."
"What do you mean by "but"?!" Minister Xi jumped up and pointed at the minister's nose. "I haven't even finished what I'm saying yet, and you're so eager to make a decision for His Majesty?!"
The minister's facial features suddenly shrank into a ball, and he quickly defended himself, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I was just inspired by Lord Xi and suddenly thought of a way to break the impasse. I spoke rashly in a moment of urgency. I hope Your Majesty will punish me."
What he said...while he was trying to excuse himself, he also didn't forget to mention Minister Xi.
Xie Yuzhen raised his eyelids and glanced at the minister. Oh, he is one of Old Man Huang’s allies. That’s not surprising.
"This matter has not become a problem, so how can it be said to have been solved?" Xie Yuzhen said with a smile, and everyone's eyes were once again focused on her. "I have also been studying history books recently, and I have many doubts. The gentlemen present here are all well-educated people who have been carefully selected through the imperial examination. I wonder if you can help me solve my doubts?"
"If the Queen has any orders, how dare we not do our best?"
"Okay." Xie Yuzhen nodded.
The emperor quietly took a step toward her. Although he was often unsure of what this woman was thinking, after listening to what she had said before, and seeing that Minister Xi had brought up examples of women from previous dynasties taking the imperial examinations... the emperor looked at the minister who had just said he wanted to follow precedent with a look of amusement mixed with a little pity.
"I read about the example Lord Xi mentioned not long ago. This woman was the first and last woman to take the imperial examination in the previous dynasty. Most records about her stopped after she was granted the title of Ruren. However, I accidentally found a record of this woman's name and place of origin when she took the imperial examination in the library of the Hanlin Academy."
"She is from Chenxia, and her surname is Situ."
Xie Yuzhen took a step forward and said, "She is the only daughter in the family. After giving birth, she married a man and gave birth to a daughter... This girl later married the King of Qian who rebelled in Jiangyin at the end of the previous dynasty."
"She had two sons and one daughter with the King of Qian, and later..."
Both of King Qian's sons died in the great melee at the end of the previous dynasty. As King Qian's nephews and nephews were also either dead or injured, there was no one who could be his successor. So he set his sights on a local king who was the sixth oldest among the local people and was a soldier who occupied a state capital next door.
Everyone present was a scholar, and no matter what book they read, they would inevitably read the history of Dasheng's rise.
The rise of Taizu of Da Sheng was legendary. He went from being an ordinary, poor soldier to a local king who competed with various princes for the world. In the end, he successfully carved out a piece of land for himself in the chaos that had lasted for more than a decade, and once again established a unified Central Plains dynasty, and was named emperor!
In the early days of Taizu of Dasheng's conquest of the world, it was with the help of his father-in-law, the Prince of Qian, that he was able to transform from a mere local king into a powerful figure who could participate in the competition. The daughter of the Prince of Qian, Taizu's Empress, was also a hero of the time, especially good at governing the people's livelihood. She and Taizu helped each other, both civil and military, and laid the foundation for the Dasheng Empire.
In the dynasty before the Great Prosperity, the ethics and morals were strict and the clan power was particularly strong, so there were great families that stood for hundreds of years and could even overthrow the royal family. In contrast to the prosperity of many great families, there was a miserable life for the lower-class people. At that time, commoners without a good surname or a good background were no different from pigs and dogs in front of the great families, or even not as good as the livestock raised by the families.
A noble and wealthy family walked on piles of bones that piled up layer by layer. This magnificent but stinking mansion finally came to the day when it was overturned and torn apart by the angry people.
It is not difficult to see from the attitude of some of the surviving aristocratic families today towards their own children that even if they were born in a prosperous era, they still live an extremely repressed and difficult life. So what kind of situation would those women from aristocratic families who lived in previous dynasties have been in?
The grandmother of Empress Taizu was definitely an outlier among outliers in the previous dynasty, but Empress Taizu herself, under the premise that all kinds of repressive atmosphere of the previous dynasty still existed, used her body as a woman and her power as an empress to fight for a breathing space for women all over the world.
Therefore, Empress Dowager Hu was able to fight against the previous emperor in the previous dynasty. Therefore, Xie Yuzhen can rightfully stand in the court today. Therefore, in the future, there will be more and more women among the civil and military officials, and Lu Weiyuan will become the unprecedented supreme empress.
In an instant, countless thoughts flashed through Xie Yuzhen's mind. At this moment, she also realized that the unremitting efforts of generations had created a land where women with ambitions like herself could survive. She paused and stopped recounting the history of the Great Sheng royal family. Instead, she asked everyone, "Later, I looked through the royal genealogy and did find evidence that matched that record. I was really confused. How could such an important matter not be clearly recorded in the "Shengshi"? Did the Hanlin Academy neglect it when it sorted out and repaired the history library?"
These days, nothing that has to do with the royal family, especially a royal family that has real power and is truly supreme in the world, can be taken lightly.
The ministers present shuddered at the same time - the Hanlin Academy not only had the responsibility of compiling history, but also... After the candidates passed the joint examination and the palace examination, the most outstanding ones would go to the Hanlin Academy to gain experience and study for a period of time before being assigned to serve in local areas or various ministries.
Hanlin Bachelor can be said to be one of the most promising and noble official positions. Nowadays, most of the heads of various departments in the court are Hanlin Bachelor. Of course, the revision of "Shengshi" also has their share!