During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song Dynasty, there was an old Confucian who fell into the ranks and drifted north to the capital. "Laodi Confucianism" is an old scholar who has failed many imperial examinations. He is not yet old enough to enter the coffin, and he is at an embarrassing age when a bottle is not half full.The imperial court took care of the elderly candidates in the imperial examination with "special performance names". Can pass the exam, but finally had to die of depression.There are not a few such fallen scholars wandering in the capital, unable to pass the imperial examination to become an official, the old Confucianists had to take a slant and find other ways to become an official.No talent, no background, no money, the entire "three no personnel", most of the down-and-out Confucian scholars who went to the capital had no background, and it was very difficult to expect to establish a relationship with the current officials.However, the old Confucianism has its own tricks.

At that time, there was a street rogue named Yu Qing, who was poor and had no means to make money, and he never finished his meal. He had the same tragic fate as the old Confucian.Flying to the top is the common wish of all down-and-out people. It is the same as the psychology of gambling, hoping that there will be pie in the sky one day. Yu Qing went to Lao Ru to buy a "Destiny Lottery".This is a god-sent opportunity, so the old Confucian made a plan on him and bet on him for the rest of his life.What good can a rogue do?What's more, such a person is far away from official career.You must know that a screw has its function, let alone a living person.

Yu Qing asked the old Confucian how to make a fortune? The old Confucian gave him a thorough analysis of the reasons, and finally said that it is easy to make a fortune, but you need to change your name. As long as he can make a fortune, it doesn't matter what his name is to Yu Qing.The old Confucian changed his surname to Ding and named him Yilu. Yilu, translated into modern dialect, means "high salary, high salary", which is nothing brilliant.Legend has it that there was a man named Qin Yilu during the Three Kingdoms period, and his wife, Mrs. Du, was the most beautiful woman Diaochan in the Three Kingdoms.Qin Yilu was incompetent, his wife was occupied by the leader Lu Bu first, and after Cao Cao defeated Lu Bu, his wife was occupied by Cao Cao again.Under all difficulties, Qin Yilu chose to divorce, and later defected to Zhang Fei, and soon wanted to defect, and finally Zhang Fei ended his aggrieved life.Illiterate Yu Qing did not know the above allusions, but this ordinary name has its mystery. "Book of Songs Baiguan Zhi" contains: "There is Cangtou with the word Yilu. In the Han Dynasty, every time the prime minister's mansion was related to Bai, it was common to pass on Yilu when he went to the pavilion." It can be seen from this that "Yilu" In ancient times, it was the name of "Prime Minister's Servant", indicating that his master could be a prime minister.

The old Confucian told Yu Qing, you go to Ding Shilang's house to try your luck.This is the cleverness of changing his name to "Ding Yilu". Ding Shilang, Ding Wei, was the Minister of Rites at that time.Ding Shilang was the fourth Jinshi. He did have certain talents and was recommended by Prime Minister Kou Zhun.Ding said that he admired auspiciousness himself, and it happened that Zhenzong in his later years also had the need for this, so he was on the rise.It was Ding Wei and Wang Qinruo who instigated the large-scale construction projects such as Zhenzong Fengchan. The old Confucianist didn't know where he got the news about Ding Shilang's auspiciousness, and there was a rascal Yu Qing who asked for help, so he hit two birds with one stone.The old Confucian is suffering from being unable to establish a relationship with Ding Wei. Ding Wei has a lot of diners. To put it bluntly, it is a waste of time to carry shoes for others.It just so happened that there was such a stunned young man, and Quan used him as a weapon.Going to Ding Wei's house is risky, but it doesn't matter to the old Confucian. If you don't succeed, you will die as a scoundrel. The old Confucian will gain the reputation of eliminating harm for the people. considerations.

Things went smoothly unexpectedly, and Yu Qing defected to Ding Wei under the pseudonym "Ding Yilu".When Ding Shilang heard that the visitor was called "Ding Yilu", his eyes lit up after he had read a lot of poetry and books, and he thought to himself, does this mean that he can become a prime minister?It coincided with Ding Wei's psychology of advocating auspiciousness, and Ding Wei was overjoyed, and he was accepted as his disciple.Sure enough, it didn't take long for Ding Wei to be promoted to Shenzhizhengshi (Deputy Prime Minister).Ding Yilu was supported by Prime Minister Ding, and the old Confucian was also introduced. He got an official position as an educator and entered an official career.

This is a story recorded in the Song Dynasty notes and historical material "Fengchuang Xiaodo".Hooligans and old Confucians cannot enter official careers through the country's formal imperial examination system, but can only pass through another system-the grace system. Facing the whole society, the Song court established roughly four ways to become an official: imperial examination, Guozijian (Tai Xue), recommendation, and sneak attack. These four ways of becoming an official present a mutually progressive relationship. First of all, let’s talk about the imperial examination system. It is a way for poor children to become an official, and it has gradually evolved into the mainstream way.On the basis of the Tang Dynasty, the imperial examinations in the Song Dynasty added systems such as "transcription" and "miseal", which made the imperial examinations develop towards the best fair state of "ruthless as nature, fairness as weighing".Many poor children such as Lu Mengzheng, Fan Zhongyan, Sima Guang, Wang Anshi, Su Shi, etc. all entered official positions through the imperial examination.This is a way for the imperial court to open up to the people to win over talents, allowing thousands of poor people to join the imperial system, diluting the power of the old nobles in the past.The imperial examinations mainly include Jinshi, Mingjing, Martial Arts, Medical Officer, Law and other subjects.In addition, the imperial court set up a "special name" for the candidates who were very old, that is, those old candidates who were about to be buried in the earth would lower their requirements and take the exam again, or directly appoint officials.During the reign of Emperor Taizong, there was an old Confucian named Zhao Changguo who was asked to write twenty poems in one day during the examination.As a result, he wrote less than ten poems, and his level was average, and Emperor Taizong gave him a special gift.During the Yuanfeng period of Emperor Shenzong of Song Dynasty, there was an old Confucian who wrote on the paper: I am too old to write articles, I wish your majesty long live long live long live long live.Shenzong specially bestowed the preferential treatment of Shilu for life. "Special performance of names" further reflects the court's attitude of winning over scholars.

The court set up imperial examinations for the vast number of poor children, and the court also took care of the vast number of officials and children of large taxpayers. That is, Guozijian, the incubation base for civil servants in the Song Dynasty. Entering this school is equivalent to entering an official career.Those who are dissatisfied with the official position of the Guozijian can take the Jinshi examination, but no matter how good the results are, they will not be awarded the number one scholar.In order to prevent them from vying for places with poor families, the official regulations stipulate that supervisors who take part in Jinshi subjects should be separated from other candidates, and another examination room is set up, called "lock hall examination". If they fail the examination, they will be fined 20 catties of copper.There is also a fatal rule that failed supervisors are not allowed to take the Jinshi examination for life. This rule was not abolished until the third year of Song Renzong Jia (1058).

The two mainstream ways of becoming an official, the imperial examination and the Guozijian, have already covered all aspects. However, the imperial court still feels that it has not done enough, and has established a recommendation system. Wait.Recommendation was originally an important official selection mechanism in the Han Dynasty, that is, the inspection system.The Song Dynasty stipulated that there should be no more than five officials to recommend. The first recommender was "Pobai" and the final recommender was "Hejian" to prevent the formation of cliques for personal gain.Due to quota regulations, those who are not close relatives or close friends are not recommended. Every official carefully reserves his right to recommend.Recommendations are usually made by high officials in the DPRK and Central Committee recommending politically prestigious officials, with political considerations, such as Zhao Pu recommending Zhang Qixian, Lu Yijian recommending Fu Bi, Pang Ji recommending Sima Guang, Wen Yanbo recommending Wang Anshi, and so on.

The above three ways of becoming an official are progressive. For example, poor scholars pass the mainstream imperial examination system to become an official. After years of research and promotion, they have a certain amount of weight before they can recommend someone and establish their own official network. .The children of such people don't have to worry about being an official. If they can't pass the imperial examination, they can go directly to the noble school, no matter how big the official position is, at least in the official career.If you are promoted to the class of Zaizhi or Transit Envoy, treatment such as sneak attack will naturally follow.

Yin raid, that is, the former system of favor and shadow of old Confucians who have fallen into official positions, that is, the father's generation has made great contributions to the country, and the children directly use the father's shadow as an official. It is a hereditary system in disguise.Zhao Yi focused on the origin of Enyin in Song Dynasty in "Notes of Twenty-two Histories".During special seasons such as offering sacrifices to heaven, the emperor's birthday, or when ministers retire or pass away, the royal family will give out a number of benevolent courtiers, so that benevolent courtiers have become a common practice, and the treatment is generous.For example, Cao Bin, a famous general in the early Song Dynasty, died, and he favored more than ten relatives, followers, and pro-schools.During the Taizong period, Li Jilong, the god of war, passed away, and his son was engraved, and more than 20 people under his disciples were recorded.There were 200 people in Enyin during the Zhiping period of Song Yingzong, 400 to 500 people in Enyin in the sixth year of Song Shenzong Xining, and 1,460 people in Enyin in the sixth year of Song Huizongzhenghe.Sometimes there are many quotas at a time, and if the ministers have no children, they will use relatives, retainers, entourages and even slaves to top up the quota. What's more, they give full play to the commercial advantages of the Song Dynasty and directly buy and sell the preferential quotas of the imperial court privately with clearly marked prices.For example, during the Qingli period of Renzong Qingli, Dali judged affairs 10,000 guan, the master book and county lieutenant 6,000 guan, and the lowest level of civil servants was 3,200 guan.

Faced with the huge temptation of becoming an official with kindness, people outside the official career speculate and try their best to enter the official career. As long as they establish a relationship with the current officials, even if they go to the mansion to be a staff member, they will have the opportunity to become an official with grace.Undoubtedly, this opens the way for those who have failed and social idlers, and naturally all of them racked their brains and tried their best. "Dongxuan Transcripts" records a story about Prime Minister Zhang Qixian: When Zhang Qixian was a transshipment envoy in the south of the Yangtze River, during a family banquet one day, a slave stole silverware and hid it in his arms. He happened to see it, and Zhang Qixian remained silent.In the future, when Zhang Qixian was the prime minister, the so-called prime minister's door boy was a seventh-rank official, and the slaves and maidservants in the family were promoted one after another. Life was very good, but the one who stole was still a slave.The slave asked unconvinced, I have served my husband the longest time, why did they all get an official, but they just left me?Zhang Qixian said that if I didn't tell you, you would definitely blame me.The matter of you stealing silverware was hidden in my heart for thirty years, and I did not tell anyone.Now that I am the prime minister, I will select talents for the country, how dare I use thieves?I miss you serving me the longest, and I will pay you the travel expenses, let's go!The slave was shocked, wept and thanked and left. Don't talk about how Zhang Qixian in this story judges his character, but just talk about the channels through which the servants and maids of their family "all get officials"?It is an official, not an official.Officials have a formal establishment by the state, and officials are only temporary workers of the imperial court. There is an essential difference between officials and officials in the Song Dynasty.As mentioned above, the recommendation is conditional, beneficial, and has a quota limit.Thinking that there are many servants in Prime Minister Zhang's mansion, how could he recommend them one by one?It can be seen from this that we have reason to speculate that the maidservant, Yu Qing, and the old Confucian who fell into the ranks probably entered the official position by obtaining the number of favors. Faced with the temptation of Enyin, "Miscellaneous Notes on the Green Box" mentioned that during the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song Dynasty, scholars often rushed to call for official positions. At that time, there were two most representative scholars, one was nicknamed "Watching the Fire Horse" and the other was "Daily Traveling God", whenever there is such a small chance of becoming an official, the two of them will come immediately after hearing the news, causing very bad social impact, which has aroused the great attention of the relevant departments, and the imperial court issued a "ban on visiting".We can’t blame the scholars for speculation. Hereditary in a disguised form has provided many lucky people with shortcuts. It is a tradition to find people to rely on relationships, which reflects that taking shortcuts seems to be people’s inherent thinking.The students who have studied hard for ten years in the cold window end up suffering from hunger and cold, and those illiterate civilians only became officials because they were servants of high officials. How embarrassing are these students? However, this kind of kindness quota is actually the most prevalent only in the capital, so everyone gathers together in Bianliang, Kaifeng.The Song Dynasty stipulated: "From the Taishi and Kaifu Yitong three divisions, civil servants can have sons and grandchildren, and relatives with different surnames, and family members." Official ranks are "Three Dukes" (Taishi, Taifu , Taibao), "Three Divisions" (Sikong, Sima, Situ), the scope of grace can only reach relatives of the opposite sex and followers of followers.The official ranks of Wensan officials are three companies and three companies, and the lowest is a ministerial officer at the level of the chief executive.The scope of grace of the local governor (transit envoy) is only for the direct line and the clan, and the number of places is very small, usually one person. Grace is a scarce resource, and whoever can win it will have the possibility of making a fortune. People who have no blood relationship with the court officials, such as rogue Yuqing and Luodi old scholars, can use their followers to top up their quota. Only in the imperial court.This is the reason why many people outside the official career want to go to the capital.