1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2616
Zhu Zian didn't answer Bai Letong's question immediately, but turned his head and glanced at Shi Diwen, seeing that he had nothing to say, he responded: "The imperial examination is a system for selecting talents for the country, and I have the intention of serving the country. You will sign up for the provincial examination if you have no heart, and your Excellency's question is to doubt your sincerity in taking the imperial examination?"

Bai Letong shook his head and said, "It's not that I doubt Your Excellency's sincerity, but everyone knows that the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions are thriving in culture and education, and there are a large number of talented people. The imperial examination competition here has always been the fiercest. In previous years, thousands of students competed for a hundred or so admission places. In contrast, if you take the rural examination in the north, your chances of being admitted should be much greater, and you probably don’t know it. Moreover, if you take the test nearby, you won’t have to travel all the way to Hangzhou. Apart from serving the country, your Excellency must have other reasons for this move, right?"

Of course, Bai Letong could think that the main reason why Zhu Zi'an came to Hangzhou to rush for the exam should be to get Shi Diwen's promise to give him special care in the imperial examination, so as to ensure that he can get a title on the gold list and enter the Haihan officialdom smoothly in the future.The official will also use him as a positive example to hype Haihan's orthodox status in the follow-up, attracting more talents to take the initiative to join Haihan.In this way, both parties can benefit from each other, and in the long run, it is indeed a good thing that benefits the country and the people.

This arrangement may be illegal, but it is in the national interest, and Bai Letong naturally has no way to object. After figuring out the stakes, he admires Shi Diwen's method.So although he was not very active in the work of the township trial, he did not try to challenge Shi Diwen's arrangement.

But the question he asked Zhu Zian at this time was actually not malicious. The local officials with a clear mind would definitely be happy to use Zhu Zian's special status to improve their political achievements. The conditions that Shi Diwen could provide to Zhu Zian, Chen Yixin from the north Should also be able to give.Moreover, King De's former feudal land was within Chen Yixin's current jurisdiction, so it should be the first to get the moon if he is close to the water. Could it be that Shi Diwen secretly dug Chen Yixin's wall?

Bai Letong really wanted to know, if he could get a chance to get ahead in the imperial examinations in the north, why did Zhu Zi'an go far and come to Hangzhou to take the exam.

"This question, let me answer it."

The speaker was Shi Diwen, who seemed to have sensed Zhu Zian's uneasiness in responding to Bai Letong, so he took the initiative to take the conversation over: "Le Tong, I know what you're thinking, but it's not what you think." I can tell you frankly that I was not the one who initially planned this matter, but Chen Yixin, and it was his suggestion to arrange for Zian to go to Hangzhou for the exam.”

When Bai Letong heard this, he already understood why Zhu Zian's response avoided the important and ignored the trivial.This matter involved Chen Yixin and Shi Diwen, two high-ranking Haihan officials, and Zhu Zian himself was probably only a pawn in it. How dare he reveal the inside story to outsiders at will?

But Bai Letong really didn't expect that it was Chen Yixin who took the initiative to arrange Zhu Zian to take the exam in Shi Diwen's jurisdiction.Since he knew that he could do a lot with Zhu Zian, why would he give up such a good thing?
Then I heard Shi Diwen continue to say: "You may think that there will be very complicated conflicts of interest, but the actual situation is very simple. The reason why Chen Yixin did this is because he didn't want to put all his eggs in one basket. If it were me Similar arrangements will be made when dealing with this matter.”

Everyone suddenly realized that this matter was neither Shi Diwen's poaching, nor Chen Yixin's kindness, it was just a cooperation between two senior officials.And Zhu Zian was not the scarce resource they thought, at least Chen Yixin had other children of the Zhu family who also participated in this year's imperial examination.

As for why Chen Yixin shared Zhu Zi'an with Shi Diwen, it was simply to share risks and benefits.If the follow-up hype can achieve positive results, both the Northern Region and the East China Sea Region will benefit from it, and because the imperial examinations are held simultaneously in the two regions, the publicity effects obtained from this can be superimposed on each other and have an impact in a larger area force.If the effect is not satisfactory, or if the executive committee thinks that this is against the principle of Haihan holding the imperial examination, then at least it can lead to a situation where the law does not blame the public.

Of course, judging from the current situation, as long as the follow-up publicity work can keep up, the possibility of positive benefits for their plan is extremely high, and maybe the executive committee will also express their attitude and support it publicly.

Shi Diwen continued: "Le Tong, I know you have always had some opinions on this matter, so I specially called Zian here today. Maybe you think I am just using Zian's identity, but have you ever thought about how we could Would you take the risk of pushing a mediocre person to the front of the stage as a role model? I chose Zhong Zi’an because of his identity on the one hand and on the other hand because he is quite talented. That's all. If you don't believe me, you can ask him a test right away to see if he has real skills."

Zhu Zian also straightened his back at this time, looking directly at Bai Letong, it was obvious that he was quite confident in this.

In fact, Bai Letong had imagined more than once that he wanted to find an opportunity to try how much real ability the characters who received special treatment in the rural examination had, and to see if Shi Diwen had found an idiot aristocrat as a prop. When it came, he had no such desire.

Now that Shi Diwen has told the inside story frankly, he believes that there is no need for the other party to brag about Zhu Zian's knowledge at this time.Of course, there is another reason, that is, Bai Letong himself doesn't have much study of the Four Books and Five Classics, and his poetry and songs are not his strong points. If he tries to make a debut topic, not only will it not be effective, but it will make the other party see through his shortcomings.

But if you make a question based on what you have learned, it is clear that you are bullying the other party.After all, the courses learned by the second generation are very special, and many of the contents have far surpassed the academic level of this era. If you take out a question related to mathematics, physics and chemistry, Zhu Zian probably can't even understand it, so it's okay to stump the other party meaning.

Bai Letong hesitated for a moment, and was about to decline the proposal. Tao Hongfang, who seemed to see through his mind, rushed to the front and said, "Why don't I come up with a question, brother Zi'an, can you answer it?"

Zhu Zian nodded without fear and said, "Please come up with a question."

Tao Hongfang said: "I am not talented. I have only learned some ancient poems. It is absolutely impossible to create by myself, and I have no ability to evaluate other people's works. So I would like to ask Brother Zi'an to choose an ancient poem to express my participation in this competition. It would be better if the idea of ​​the rural examination can be written directly."

Tao Hongfang's way of setting the question is quite clever, which not only avoids the risk of making a fool of himself, but also does not hurt his friendship.Limiting the use of ancient poems to express one's ambition can test Zhu Zian's knowledge. Even if he is not good at writing poems, as long as he can come up with decent works of ancient people, he can still pass the test.Then referring to his calligraphy level, we can roughly judge whether this person has real talent and learning, or is it a scumbag with a golden jade and a rotten fluff.

(End of this chapter)