kingnovel Chapter 888: Hanlin Academy at Work
Chapter 888: Hanlin Academy at Work
As a new official taking office and entering officialdom for the first time, Lu Cheng and his group of newly-appointed scholars still have a lot to learn.
The Hanlin Academy was a department that brought together the world's top elite intellectuals, who were responsible for compiling books and writing history, drafting imperial edicts, reading to members of the royal family, and serving as examiners for the imperial examinations. Hanlin scholars were of noble status and were a stepping stone to becoming senior officials and even local officials. They were equivalent to the emperor's secretariat and a reserve base for senior officials.
For example, Zhang Jiuling and Bai Juyi of the Tang Dynasty, Su Shi, Wang Anshi, Ouyang Xiu and Sima Guang of the Song Dynasty, Fang Xiaoru and Zhang Juzheng of the Ming Dynasty, all of them were Hanlin scholars.
When Lu Cheng and the new second and third place winners came to the Hanlin Academy, a fifth-rank lecturer from the Hanlin Academy led the three to the office area, pointed to three empty tables, and said, "From now on, this is where you three will handle official business. The pens, ink, paper, and inkstones are all distributed by the higher-ups. Don't throw them away when they are broken. You can take the old ones to exchange for new ones.
Your current job is to sort out the imperial edicts and edit the palace manuscripts every day. There is no other work for the time being. You start work at 1:00 a.m. every day and leave after lunch. There will be monthly and annual examinations in the future. If you fail the examination, your salary will be fined.
The salary for a sixth-rank editor is eight shi per month, and the salary for a seventh-rank editor is seven shi and a half. There is also money for food and candlelight. If you stay here to eat, you will not have money for food.”
At that time, one dan of rice was about 120 jin, and Lu Cheng's salary was 960 jin of rice per month. According to the current prices in Kyoto, one dan of rice would cost about 1500 wen. One liang of silver was about 1300 wen.
In other words, Lu Cheng's basic salary was about nine taels of silver per month. Even if the food and candle expenses were added, it would be a little more than 10 taels per month, or to taels per year.
For an ordinary family, this income is enough to maintain a comfortable life.
But for officials and their families, it is somewhat insufficient.
Just like in the Jia family, a first-class maid would cost one tael of silver per month, and a second-class maid would cost one hundred yuan per month, and these maids also needed to be provided with food and accommodation.
In other words, if Lu Cheng used all his salary to support servants, he could only support about ten people. Moreover, this money had to be used for the expenses of the whole family.
The salaries of Ming Dynasty officials were not high to begin with. After all, it was the end of the dynasty, the treasury was empty, and there had been successive years of drought in the Central Plains and other places, resulting in poor harvests and rising prices.
If you only rely on this salary, let alone becoming an official and making a fortune, even if you want to maintain a decent life, you have to be frugal.
Scholars study hard for ten years and finally get their names on the list of successful candidates. Except for a few officials who really want to speak up for the people and share the worries of the emperor, most of them just want to get promoted, make money and bring honor to their family.
Because of this, many officials could not resist the temptation and began to find ways to make money. Once the door is opened, it is difficult to stop it.
After the lecturer had finished arranging the work, the third place winner was still a little surprised and couldn't help asking, "Sir, are we just copying books? We are the top three in this year's exam, the first place, the second place, and the third place."
The lecturer smiled softly, "In the Hanlin Academy, there is no shortage of top three candidates. There are three candidates every three years. If you can't show your talent and stand out, you may only be able to copy books here in the future. Look at that one, the runner-up in the eleventh year of Changtai, who came here four years earlier than you. And that one..."
Lu Cheng didn't say much. He walked straight to his seat, glanced at the writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone on the table, and sat down calmly.
In fact, scholars have studied hard for decades, poring over classics, picking out sentences, but much of what they learn is out of touch with reality and useless.
If you want to serve the people and benefit the people, you need to learn some government experience.
The Hanlin Academy arranged for newcomers to copy books first, so that they could learn how to do things and accumulate some experience from previous official documents and imperial edicts.
Moreover, after experiencing the horse-riding parade and the Qionglin Banquet, the newly-appointed scholars were inevitably a little proud and their tempers needed to be tempered.
To put it bluntly, who would let a few newbies take charge of the work?
Seeing that Lu Cheng was neither arrogant nor impatient, and sat quietly in his seat, waiting for the assignment, the lecturer could not help but nodded, and then asked someone to bring Lu Cheng a stack of documents to be copied.
Lu Cheng took a quick look at the work at hand and began to copy it down.
Seeing this, the runner-up and third place winners didn't say anything more and started working.
Actually, this job is quite leisurely. I start work at 5 or 6 in the morning, commonly known as Dianmao. After lunch, I can go home.
Lu Cheng could easily finish a job that others would need half a day to do in less than an hour. He would then drink tea, read a book, stretch his body, and wait to get off work.
The next few days were all the same.
After lunch that day, Lu Cheng left the Hanlin Academy and headed home.
As soon as I returned to my own courtyard, I saw Jia Lian from the Jia Mansion coming into the alley with a few servants.
"Jia Lian from the Rongguo Mansion greets the number one scholar."
"It turns out to be Brother Lian. How come you have time to come to my place today?"
Jia Lian's father and Lin Daiyu's mother are siblings. In terms of seniority, Lu Cheng and Jia Lian are of the same generation.
When Jia Lian heard Lu Cheng calling him "Second Brother Lian", he felt very close to him and immediately changed his name: "Brother Cheng, the mansion has just received some fresh fruits from below. The old ancestor sent me here to give you some and invite you to come over and have a seat. Since you have been engaged to Miss Lin, we will all be family in the future and we should visit each other often."
Lu Cheng nodded: "Okay, let me go back and change my clothes."
Lu Cheng did not refuse, so he turned around and went back to the house, and asked Lai Wang and Lai Shun to help the servants from the Jia Mansion unload the things that had been delivered.
In those days, fruits were rare and not available to ordinary people. Jia Lian brought two baskets of fruits, two boxes of vegetables, and some tea.
After packing up briefly and changing into casual clothes, Lu Cheng took Xiangling and two servants and went to the Rongguo Mansion with Jia Lian.
As soon as I walked out of the door, I saw two or three women dressed as matchmakers walking in the alley and arriving at the gate of the Lu family courtyard.
"I pay my respects to the No. 1 Scholar. Today I have finally met the No. 1 Scholar. I have here..."
Without waiting for the other party to finish speaking, Lu Cheng waved his hand and said, "I have already been engaged, and I have important things to do. Please go back."
"Yes, yes, we dare not disturb Mr. No. 1 Scholar's important event. If Mr. No. 1 Scholar wants to take a concubine, I can introduce you to a dignified young lady from a wealthy family, Mr. Wang who runs a silk and satin shop in the south of the city..."
Lu Cheng waved his hand, without paying much attention to the matchmakers, and left with Jia Lian.
Jia Lian couldn't help but joked, "Brother Cheng, there are so many matchmakers coming to your house lately, right?"
In fact, since Lu Cheng passed the imperial examination, many people in the capital sent matchmakers to propose marriage. Even when they heard that Lu Cheng was already engaged, some wealthy businessmen wanted to marry their daughters to Lu Cheng as concubines.
After Lu Cheng became the top scorer in high school, more people came to propose marriage to him.
Of course, the daughters of officials would not easily become concubines. Even the daughter of a seventh-rank official would not easily marry into a noble family like the Jia family as a concubine. The status of a concubine was too low, only slightly better than that of a maid.
However, for some ordinary people or business families, there are not so many requirements. As long as they can get close to the powerful, even if they become a concubine, it is good.