"Learning the sea is endless." The imperial examination system in ancient China consumed the lives of countless people. Zuo Zongtang, a famous minister of the late Qing Dynasty, participated in the examination 3 times, all of whom were named Luosun Mountain, and in one breath, he no longer referred to it for life.
In the same period of Zuo Zongtang, there was also a "unlucky egg": the talented he took 12 township examinations and 4 meeting examinations, and only at the age of 52 was he admitted to the jinshi.
This "unlucky egg" is called Li Ciming.
Li Ciming (李慈明), courtesy name Aibo, was born in 1830 in the village of Xiguo Xiachuan (present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang). During the Qing Dynasty, the people of Wuyue were brilliant, and Li Ciming was brilliant since childhood, and at the age of 12, he was able to write beautiful poems, which was valued and appreciated by Wu Qingfang, the inspector of Zhejiang. People at the time called it "Yuezhong Juncai".
However, Li Ciming's road to the imperial examination was particularly bumpy. According to the records, he participated in the township examination 11 times, all of which ended in failure, and only when he took the township examination 12 times at the age of 42 did he pass the examination. After that, he failed the list three times in the examination, and only when he took the examination for the fourth time at the age of 52 did he pass the entrance examination.
When Li Ciming's peers were already calling for wind and rain in the political arena, he had just entered the political arena. To this end, he carved a resume idle seal to laugh at himself: "Daoguang Gengzhi Maocai, Xianfeng Gengshen Jing, Tongzhi Gengwu Renren, Guangxu Gengchen Jinshi." ”
Li Ciming's luck was rather bad.
He came from a landlord family and had a relatively generous family environment. After decades of hard reading in the cold window, a large family business has gradually sat on the mountain and eaten the sky. In 1859, after repeated attempts, Li Ciming came to the capital with a sum of silver, planning to take the road of donating officials and buying a Hubu Langzhong. Unexpectedly, due to his lack of social experience, Li Ciming was deceived, and the money he carried with him fell into the pockets of others, and he had to wander in the capital.
In order to satisfy Li Ciming's dream of becoming an official, his mother sold her land and donated him a Hubu Langzhong.
Although Li Ciming became a Beijing official, he "stood still" for a long time. We know that in the late Qing Dynasty, the Beijing officials were low in their salaries, and the high-ranking and powerful Beijing officials could also accept a considerable amount of stereotypes to maintain a luxurious life; the low-ranking and light-powered Beijing officials had to tighten their pants and belts to live. However, Li Ciming was very particular about enjoyment, and even did not hesitate to take out 20 taels of silver to buy a dress: "In April, the beaded fur mink sleeves silver red river robe has a collar." Ordinary clothes, no such Tori also. With very good sleeves, there is a wind that bears the flatness and density, and the flower hydrangeas are like a palace body. ”
At the beginning of Li Ciming's appointment as an official, "I tried to set myself seven examples of self-encouragement: one did not answer foreign officials, two did not pay Hanlin, three did not pay tribute to celebrities, four did not despise rich people, five did not recognize the world in the same year, six did not worship the master of the house to recommend the examination, and seven did not celebrate the birthday of the marriage." "However, the Beijing officials do not make friends with foreign officials, where does the stereotype come from?" Therefore, Li Ciming still secretly accepted the feudal officials.
In 1881, Li Hongzhang, the governor of Zhili, entered Beijing to meet Empress Dowager Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor, and lived in Xianliang Temple. Li Ciming specially visited Li Hongzhang at Xianliang Temple. Of course, Li Hongzhang understood his intentions and sent 12 taels of silver before leaving.
Later, Li Ciming served as the head of the Beixue Haitang Mountain of Tianjin Qingjin Academy, and received a rich bundle of repairs from Li Hongzhang every year, amounting to more than 1100 taels of silver.
Why is Li Hongzhang willing to give a lot of silver to Li Ciming? It is not because Li Ciming has a wild personality, and he is at the center of the political whirlpool, and there is no need to offend him for "celebrities at the same time, all of them are extremely abusive and leave no room". Sure enough, after Li Hongzhang's "sugar-coated shell" bombing, Li Ciming never opened his mouth to scold Li Hongzhang.
Li Ciming also had a good relationship with Zhang Zhidong, another feudal governor, and had close contacts.
However, the relationship belongs to the relationship, and the gift that should be sent must still be sent. Zhang Zhidong's gifts were less, and Li Ciming would be unhappy. Once, Li Ciming complained in his diary that the "gift" sent by Zhang Zhidong was too light. After a few days, Zhang Zhidong came to visit him, and he was angry and avoided not seeing Zhang Zhidong: "In the afternoon, when Taoran Pavilion came, Zhang Zhidong came, and I avoided it." ”
[References: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Li Ciming, a Low-Income and High-Consumption Late Qing Official, etc.]