Take the farm down to earth

Chapter 124 Six Yuan and Chapter [-]
Wang Ziteng, as the envoy of the Jingying Jiedu, has the power to be rich.

Moreover, in the official protection talisman, the words 'The East China Sea lacks a white jade bed, the Dragon King came to invite the King of Jinling' all show that the Wang family was already very rich when they were still in Jinling.

Therefore, the Wang family had no reason to force their nephew to sell their property. When the news got out, not only would they be ridiculed, but it would also be of no benefit to the prince's official reputation.

After all, because Wang Ziteng is a big official, he must care more about official voice than money.

After thinking about it, it suddenly occurred to him that Yuan Chun should be a concubine according to the time.

Perhaps it was because the Supreme Emperor felt the crisis because of too many things happened in Longshou Palace recently, and hinted at Wang Ziteng, which forced him to take Xue Pan first, just to put on a show.

Thinking of this, Shi Zhongkui frowned.

The Supreme Emperor and Wang Ziteng are both troublesome, but he can't be happy about Yuan Chun's concubine.

It is clear from all signs that the emperor did not like Yuanchun at all.

Of course, there is no love at all in the emperor's marriage. In addition to benefits, it is still benefits.

But in Yuanchun, the concubine was conferred very suddenly, even before the eunuch came to announce the decree suddenly, not only did the wind not leak out, but the Jia family thought that the emperor was punishing the Jia family.

The question now is whether the concubine Yuanchun was conferred by the emperor in order to win over the Jia and Wang families, or the Supreme Emperor ordered the emperor to confer the concubine Yuanchun in order to stabilize his own base among the nobles.

If it is the former, it can only be said that the emperor has lost his head.

After all, he who occupies the orthodox righteousness, didn't he make it clear that he wanted to wrestle with the Supreme Emperor, set off a battle between father and son, and disputes between courts.

if the latter one.

Shi Zhongkui sighed, "Oh, what a troubled time."

Xue Pan couldn't help but panic when he heard this.

Shi Zhongkui waved his hand and said, "Recently, when I go home, I will honestly prepare Baochai's dowry."

After being kicked out by Shi Zhongkui, Xue Pan returned home with a puzzled look.

Talk to Aunt Xue and Baochai, although Baochai can't guess what kind of medicine Shi Zhongkui sells in the gourd.

But the words about preparing the dowry made her realize that perhaps this meant Xue Pan to move immediately.

And Xue Pan had already wanted to move because of the gossip of Jia's servants.

This time, no matter what Aunt Xue thought, she made up her mind to leave.

"Before my sister got married, she couldn't live in Lixiangyuan in Rongguo Mansion, let alone take a sedan chair in Lixiangyuan. Besides, my house has been sorted out a long time ago, so I might as well move out tomorrow."

Aunt Xue said hurriedly, "This is too urgent, your uncle will lose face."

Aunt Xue's thoughts were very simple, her son-in-law hadn't been named on the gold list yet, and Xue Pan had a fake death, so living in Jia's house would give her shelter.

Of course, she was also worried that Shi Zhongkui would not be able to pass the examination before.

But now the tone is not as firm as before.

"Mother," Baochai hurriedly reminded, "I can't stay until the wedding day is approaching. When the time comes, will the daughter marry first, or the second sister marry first?"

Aunt Xue was startled, her family background was not as good as that of Jia's, and if the sedan chair entered the Shifu later than Jia's, no one would believe that Baochai was the main house.
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This matter got to the ears of Jia Mu, Jia Zheng and Mrs. Wang, and it turned out that the Jia family was the same as before, and they didn't want the Xue family to move out now.

But Xue Pan played wildly, got into the carriage with Baochai and left.

An angry Jia Zheng couldn't help cursing, "This bastard who turned the sky upside down doesn't see the slightest bit of superiority and inferiority in his eyes."

After finishing speaking, he wanted someone to call Xue Pan to teach him a lesson, but he couldn't say anything, and shook his head helplessly.

Although my uncle is an elder, he is not a close relative, Xue Pan insists on leaving, and Xue's family has a house in the capital.

No matter how many reasons Jia Zheng had, there was no reason why he should not let people live in his own house.

And Jia Mu soon realized that there might be other things involved.

After all, Xue Pan also insisted on moving before, but after being persuaded a few words, he failed to move.

But this time it seemed a little unusual. The old lady thought about it carefully, but she couldn't figure out why.

It can only be assumed that Xue Pan is thinking of Baochai, and even this matter itself is Baochai's idea.

Alas, one step is late, every step is late.

It seems that the second girl will not even think about getting a university in the future.

A few days later, the Xue family finished moving things, finished the moving banquet, and the palace examination arrived.

I won't go into details about the process, and Xia Shouzhong was as reliable as ever this time.

Although he couldn't directly guess the emperor's question, relying on what book the emperor read, or even turning the page, was a huge advantage in itself.

Moreover, except for Shi Zhongkui, what all the scholars and officials present did not expect was that the emperor actually made a policy topic on salt tax.

What is even more unexpected is that this palace exam does not test poetry and other items, but only strategy theory.

Is this to see the real talents of this subject?
Or is the emperor worried that if he chooses himself as the number one scholar, he will be gossiped about because of his poems?

Shi Zhongkui secretly glanced at the emperor sitting on the throne of the Golden Palace.

I saw that his gaze was always on himself.

Busyly tightening my mind, I couldn't help thinking about the articles I had written in the past few days.

Although the Great Zhou Dynasty is different from the Braid Dynasty, it has gone through the Song and Yuan Dynasties, and then the Chen Dynasty, which competed with Lao Zhu for the world and won the battle of Poyang Lake, and now the Great Zhou Dynasty.

In terms of time, the Great Zhou, which has been established for a hundred years, is actually no different from the Kangyong period.

In addition to affecting the income of the imperial court, the corruption of the salt government was the most direct detriment to the supply of food and salaries for the frontier troops.

In the past, Jiangnan salt merchants had to transport grain and grass to border towns if they wanted to obtain salt.

But now it is directly replaced by buying salt with silver, and the imperial court's income is indeed much higher on the surface.

But the extra money was actually snatched from the food and grass of the frontier army.

Moreover, if civil servants are responsible for the supply and transportation of grain and grass, they will inevitably do their best to make another fortune.

Thinking about it this way, I can write more.

And as a civil servant himself, he is destined to choose a side to stand on the opposite side of Wu Xun and the side general.

So Shi Zhongkui, apart from not writing about the filth of civil servants, was not afraid of offending Wu Xun at all, and wrote down what he said, even he himself felt a sense of comfort.

The cabinet scholars and Hanlin scholars who had been watching all the time smiled in satisfaction when they saw that he was writing like a god.

In the eyes of these ministers, if you have to think about such a simple topic as the salt administration, you must be a bookworm who is obsessed with studying and ignorant of world affairs.

At the end of the day, except for lunch and convenience, the emperor never left.

Based on this alone, this person can be called Qinzheng.

When handing in the paper, Shi Zhongkui rolled his eyes at Xia Shouzhong, and the eunuch rolled his eyes left and right a few times, Shi Zhongkui immediately understood that he had something to tell him.

After thinking about it, it might have something to do with Yuanchun.

Lowering his head, not nodding, let alone doing any other small movements, it made Xia Shouzhong feel relieved.

After walking out of the Golden Palace, Yu Tongfu hurriedly searched over and asked, "Are you sure?"

Shi Zhongkui gave him a blank look, no matter how good he thinks the article is, whether he can win the top prize depends not only on the emperor's thoughts, but also on the cabinet and all important ministers to consider.

Besides, the people nearby were talking too much, so there must be eunuchs who specially observed the performance of the quasi-jinshi students.

Being too eager would definitely give the emperor the impression that this person is not safe enough.

"Be careful, the dozen or so eunuchs, generals and embroidered clothes guards must be watching us."

Yu Tongfu was startled, and quickly put away his smile.

Putting his hands in his sleeves and putting on a serious expression, he followed Shi Zhongkui slowly out of the golden palace, and he was relieved.

Then he looked at Shi Zhongkui and exclaimed, "It's no wonder that my brother is a mature and prudent person. Under that kind of environment, he can still think of so many things, much better than my elder brother and me."

Shi Zhongkui smiled, "Brother, you are the father of two children, yet you have the nerve to say that I am older than you."

Yu Tongfu's face froze, knowing that Shi Zhongkui was joking, but he was a little upset.

"Brother, don't forget to teach my family Taiji to enlightenment, and also to read books for brothers and sisters and uncles' family Huaiji."

"Shi Huaiji is easy to handle when he arrives. He assigns homework every three to five days. If he can read it, he will see him once every ten days.

As for Taiji, let's talk about it after the little guy can read, but by then, maybe I have already left Beijing to work in other places. "

"Haha, brother, you don't understand now."

Yu Tongfu said with some pride, "Even if the virtuous younger brother failed to win the first prize, the second Jia Jinshi will have to spend three years in Beijing to watch politics before they have a chance to be released.

If the younger brother really wins the first prize, you probably won't have the chance to be released from Beijing in your life.

You must follow the path of the Imperial Academy, Zhanshi Mansion, Six Ministers, and the Cabinet, so you are still honestly preparing to be the teacher of my nephew and my own son. "

Shi Zhongkui was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and shook his head and walked towards the palace gate.

Because the emperor was staring at the palace examination, the speed of reviewing the papers was very fast, and even the impatient emperor didn't leave. Basically, the ranking could be roughly determined that night.

And because there were only 2 papers, the copyists copied very quickly.

More than a dozen reviewers composed of cabinet members, ministers of the Ministry of Rites, bachelors of the Imperial Academy, and members of the Imperial Academy also made corrections very quickly.

Before Hai hour that night, the top ten were determined and sent to the emperor's court.

At this time, the champion is basically selected from these ten papers, but the emperor also has the right to read other papers.

There were even emperors who read all 200 or 300 papers.

After the emperor finished reading, he didn't rush to decide on the top three after thinking about it. Instead, he asked someone to tear off the pasted name paper on the papers copied by his relatives, and then found the original papers of the ten papers.

Seeing that Shi Zhongkui's name was placed on the top paper representing the first name, the emperor was overjoyed.

Since it was chosen by the ministers themselves, it is justified.

After this matter spread to the outside world, it was also expected.

The reason is very simple, but all the ministers who have no grudges against Shi Zhongkui basically hope to get a six-yuan award.

And when it came to the imperial examination, it was true that whoever the emperor wanted to be the number one scholar would be the champion.

It's useless for you to object.

The top three have been determined, and the rest will wait for tomorrow's Chuanlu Ceremony, where the top three will be announced on the spot.

After Shi Zhongkui returned home, he immediately ordered Chinchilla to go to the small yard agreed with Xia Shouzhong.

At night, the little mouse came back to report that a young eunuch had entered the yard and sang a play for half an hour in the study.

And the little eunuch left, Chinchilla followed him all the way, watched him enter an ordinary courtyard, and didn't find anyone following him, so he ran back.

After listening to Chinchilla's narration, Shi Zhongkui frowned and thought for a moment before sighing.

The drama about a concubine being favored and her family being overbearing and being questioned made him immediately understand that the emperor wanted to make Yuan Chun his concubine.

Second, this matter must not be the emperor's own will.

The third Xia Shouzhong was reminding himself not to get too close to the Jia family.

No, maybe he was telling himself to persuade the Jia family not to be too active even if they stood in line.

Otherwise, in the end, like the allusion, the whole family will end up in exile.

Xia Shouzhong wasn't worried that he wouldn't understand, so he counted the people and relatives around him. The eldest daughter of the Jia family entered the palace as a female historian many years ago.

Shi Zhongkui sighed a few times at this, and ignored it.

After all, this is not something that I can intervene and decide on myself, and the solution has already been thought of before.

But he, who has never experienced the cruelty of the officialdom, still thinks things are simple.

There is no such thing as father and son in the struggle for power above the court.

Moreover, the emperor needs a six-element auspiciousness, and the Supreme Emperor needs it even more.
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The next day, Shi Zhongkui and others gathered again in the square in front of the Jinluan Hall.

Because he is the first in the test, of course he stands in the first row on the left.

After the champion candidate is announced, this person will come out, stand at the front of the four rows of scholars, and kneel in front of the white marble steps to thank him.

Then the No. [-] and No. [-] picks were also eligible to come out, and they stood behind the No. [-] pick to thank you.

As for the others, they can only sigh in addition to envy.

On the contrary, Tanhualang is not necessarily more knowledgeable than the top two.

But compared to the top two, or even the top ten, he must be the most handsome.

So in many cases, Tanhua is the most popular.

As for the second place in the list, there is no champion with a high status, and the handsome and popular girls in the boudoir are the most insignificant.

Shi Zhongkui would think of this, but he can only say that he is still very nervous at the moment.

And it's strange not to be nervous.

And the scholars standing behind him, as long as they can see his figure at this time, their eyes are all on him.

This is a real chance to win six yuan in a row, the first in all ages.

In real history, one of the sixth-yuan winners was Huang Guan during the Ming Taizu period, and he was only 28 years old at the time.

Five years later, he became the right servant of the Ministry of Rites of Zhengsanpin.

But because of anti-Zhu Di, the ending is not very good.

In the end, he committed suicide by throwing himself into the river, but Zhu Di still did not let go of his nine clans.

Otherwise, if he voted for Zhu Di, he would have no problem entering the cabinet.

No, the cabinet system was created by Zhu Di, but at that time it was just a secretarial organization.

The second one is Qian Chi from Whiplash Dynasty, but this big guy didn't win six yuan in a row.

Not only did he take part in the children's examination many times, but he entered the examination room six times during the rural examination and failed six times.

But these two big brothers, because the old Zhu's family lost in the battle of Poyang Lake and their fate was directly changed, did not appear in the Great Zhou Dynasty and the former Chen court at all.

That is to say, once Shi Zhongkui wins the first prize, he will be the only one in this world, and it is also the first time that he has won the first prize.

That's why the scholars, officials, eunuchs, and guards present all looked at him from time to time.

Even some superstitious eunuchs and guards had the idea of ​​kneeling at his feet and kissing his shoes to impress him.

The result was no surprise.

(End of this chapter)