prosperous age

Chapter 469 Chapter 468

Time slowly came to the end of February, and the results of the capital examination were about to be announced.

The day before, Wei Guangde had given leave to Yu Wang and Yin Shizhen, and went to the Jiujiang Guild Hall in the evening, waiting for the results of the exam with the candidates who were rushing for the exam. Naturally, Lao Kan, Ouyang Yijing and others were also with him.

Ouyang Yijing had already returned to the capital from Xiaoshan county magistrate under Wei Guangde's operation, and was placed in the Sixth Division.

"I heard that the fathers of the three provinces also participated in this test?"

Sitting at the banquet, Lao Kan suddenly asked.

The three provinces he was talking about were Zeng Xingwu, who is currently the magistrate of Fuchun County.

"I received letters from the three provinces before, and I went to Huguang Guild Hall to see him a few days ago."

Wei Guangde nodded with a smile and said, although the increase is now registered in Anlu, Huguang, it is a branch of Peng Zezeng's family after all.

Peng Zezeng's family has not produced many talents in these years, and they all fall on Anlu's branch.

"Their family is also very powerful. The three generations have all been Juren, and the youngest three provinces are admitted first."

Thinking of what he knew, Wei Guangde said to Lao Kan and the others with a smile, "I don't know if Uncle Zeng can pass the test this time."

"Yuan Shu and the others are still competing for the provincial examination. If they find out, they will feel ashamed again."

At this moment, Ouyang Yijing suddenly interjected.

"Being able to pass the college examination actually shows that the level has reached the level. The subsequent rural examinations and general examinations are more about luck, just like me, that is, during the provincial examination. The waist flashed once, and then the luck came, and I couldn't stop it. "

Wei Guangde said with a smile.

Although what he said was true, it was also to ease the hearts of Lao Li and Zhang Dao. They were all taking part in the imperial examination for the first time. It was impossible to say that they were not nervous. The first time I took the test, my mental quality was also tempered, and it seemed that I could accept it this time.

Wei Guangde's self-deprecating words caused Lao Kan, Zhu Shilong and others to burst into laughter.

Of course they know Wei Guangde's level, but as Wei Guangde said, luck came, and he was finally appointed by the emperor to be a biography, so who can ask for an argument? It is said that he is a top three person, no matter what happens, it is impossible for him to be in the top two. .1 go.

In addition, in the 35th year of Jiajing, the Imperial Academy had no intention of selecting Shujishi at all this year, and was forced into it by Emperor Jiajing.

"Look at the time, it's time for the result."

Looking at the dim light outside, Lao Kan roughly estimated in his heart and said.

"It should be yours, so you can't run away."

Wei Guangde just said with a playful smile.

This kind of day only comes once in three years. Now that he is with everyone, Wei Guangde misses the old days very much, and waits anxiously and full of hope in his heart.

"We won two in the last session?"

Hukou Zhangdao suddenly asked.

Wei Guangde didn't answer, he pointed to Ouyang Yijing next to him and said, "Ask him."

Ouyang Yijing was the one who got away with it last year, so he had the most right to speak when asked about their subject.

Nodding his head, Ouyang Yijing smiled and said: "There are two of them. Fortunately, I entrusted Shandai and let them be blessed. Before them, our Jiujiang Mansion had no one on the list for several subjects."

"Don't be nervous, learn from Mr. Zhu, how calm he is."

Seeing Zhang Dao getting nervous, Wei Guangde hurriedly smiled and comforted him.

Not long after, there was noise outside, with the sound of drums and drums, Wei Guangde and the others knew that someone had already announced the names of candidates for this subject's examination from the Gongyuan, and began to send good news.

This is the second time that Wei Guangde has participated in such an event. He was a little nervous in the last session, but now he has completely calmed down.

After a commotion in the street outside, I don’t know how many teams of news reports passed by. When the feeling of disappointment gradually rose in the hearts of everyone, finally a group of people entered the Jiujiang Guild Hall, which also represented the participation of Jiujiang Mansion in this meeting. Candidates for the test have passed the test.

"In the 41st year of Jiajing's Renxu Science Examination, congratulations to Mr. Duan Mengxian, Hukou County, Jiujiang Prefecture, Jiangxi Province, for being ranked No. 210 on the first list, and the Beijing News has won the yellow first."

210, the top three's life, but the position is still very high in the top three.

Wei Guangde and the others hurriedly stood up to congratulate Duan Mengxian, followed by the same candidates as him, and finally the businessmen from Jiujiang Prefecture in Beijing at the corner of the guild hall.

Although they are rich and powerful, they are still the lowest group of people here.

Wei Guangde was familiar with them, and he just went over and said a few words at the beginning, it still depends on the fact that they were all at the same age as his father, otherwise they really don't need to pay attention to them.

After Duan Mengxian wanted to announce the happy news, no one entered the Jiujiang Guild Hall again.

The eyes of Zhu Shilong, Lao Li, Zhang Dao and other candidates were already full of despair at this time, and Duan Mengxian, who received the good news, was not as energetic as before, and sat there quietly.

"Okay, if you don't pass the Jin Ke, you will wait for the next one. You are still young, come on, let us drink this cup to the brim, and we will surely pass the next one."

At this time, Wei Guangde had already stood up, raised the wine glass in front of him and said to several tables.

The results of the general examination have come out. Although I am a little disappointed, it is better than nothing. Finally, someone is on the list, and the big guy is not allowed to sit here all night.

Of course, the others in Beijing were fine, but for the candidates, they could only put on a smile at this time, raise their glasses to each other with Wei Guangde, and then drank the wine in their glasses.

In February of the 41st year of Jiajing, Xinsi took the examination of the Ministry of Rites, and there were [-] Chinese-style candidates including Wang Xijue.

The general examination has passed, but Duan Mengxian still has to prepare for the palace examination, Wei Guangde and the others will go home to rest after dawn, he has already asked for leave today, so he doesn't have to go to Prince Yu's mansion as an errand.

It was still early when he came back, he went straight into the backyard after entering the house, and had a good sleep under Xu Jianglan's service. After all, he stayed up all night, and now he really fell asleep.

Perhaps, only Duan Mengxian and other tribute scholars on the list are so excited that they can't sleep at the moment. They should have already left for the tribute courtyard to wait for the announcement of the list. That's how Wei Guangde came here at the beginning.

In the afternoon, Wei Guangde woke up from his dream, got up to wash, took a nice bath, and felt comfortable all over.

"Master, there is a letter from Nanjing."

While Wei Guangde was having dinner, Xu Jianglan walked over, holding an unopened letter in his hand.

Wei Guangde was eating with chopsticks in his right hand and a steamed bun in his left. He glanced at the letter and said, "It's from home, why haven't you opened it to see what it is?"

"I said that you have to open the letter yourself, so I didn't bother to read it."

Xu Jianglan put the letter on the table, sat on one side of the empty seat and watched Wei Guangde gobble up his meal.

On weekdays, it is difficult to see Wei Guangde eating at home during the day, after all he spends most of his time in Prince Yu's mansion.

Wei Guangde just raised his head and smiled at her, ate the steamed buns in his hand in three mouthfuls, then picked up the envelope on the table, he already had a premonition that this letter might be related to the news he sent back last time.

The maid next to him started to clean up the dishes under Xu Jianglan's instruction, while Wei Guangde went directly to the study with the letter.

Opening it and seeing the contents of the letter clearly, Wei Guangde was secretly surprised.

Nanjing actually wanted to transfer 10 taels of silver to the capital as an event fund, but the money was placed in a certain business in the capital, and Wei Guangde could directly pick it up when needed.

And the letter also directly pointed out the people he wanted to visit, including the two elders of the cabinet and the adults of the Ministry of War.

Touching his already hairy chin, Wei Guangde thought about where so much silver was used.

Whether it's Xu Jie or Yuan Wei, sending three 5000 taels of silver is enough. As for the Ministry of War, one or two thousand taels is enough. I really don't understand what the old man thinks, so much money to come to the capital. .

From the looks of it, the business they run is really making money.

As for the business of selling illicit salt along the Yangtze River, it actually only gradually developed a few years ago during the Japanese Invasion.

The private salt snatched from the pirates was directly sold by Zhang Fugui, and a sales network was preliminarily established.

Afterwards, merchants kept asking if they could still get private salt in their hands, which is why Nanjing contacted Prime Minister Yan Maoqing to directly sell the remaining salt from the four major salt farms for profit.

Of course, ordinary people can’t do such a business. In the past, those who were able to do surplus salt business were either large salt merchants who were willing to spend a lot of money to manage it. However, the salt they can get is limited after all, and most of them are directly through private salt. To sell.

After all, the money for buying Yanyin has to be handed over to the capital, and there is no need to be accounted for selling private salt in private, and the money can be divided after passing through.

As for whether there is a market for so much salt, it can only be said that the government is so fucked up.

At the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the national census was carried out. Zhu Yuanzhang personally took charge of this matter. On this basis, he compiled the "Yellow Book of Taxation and Service", and registered households on a household basis. The contents included the names, genders, ages, occupations, and Address, Dingkou, land, real estate and household level.

This operation was supervised by the emperor, and a large number of supervisory censors were sent to participate in and supervise the census. Therefore, the authenticity of the data is very high. The census population at that time was close to 6000 million.

Because the cover of the volume sent to the Ministry of Households is made of yellow paper, it is called the yellow volume.

According to regulations, the yellow book is made every ten years, and each book is in quadruplicate, which is reported to the central household department and the provincial, prefectural, and county household houses for archiving.

However, according to the information that Wei Guangde can find, the Ming Dynasty seems to have the largest population in the first year of Yongle. The yellow book recorded a population of 100 million households, with a population of more than [-] million.

The world has been peaceful for a hundred years, and the latest yellow book ten years ago shows that the population of the Ming Dynasty was more than 300 million, which is actually [-] million fewer than that of the Yongle period.

Because the population of Daming has not changed much for more than a hundred years, naturally the major salt farms also produce a certain amount of salt, and the price of salt is stabilized by controlling salt intake.

When Wei Guangde was still in Bengshanbao, he knew that there were hidden households in his hometown, and they were not recorded in the yellow book without property or employment. Naturally, this phenomenon is not only in his own family, but also in all provinces of the country.

No one knows how many people the Ming Dynasty had at this time, but the official yellow book always has more than [-] million people.

Unbeknownst to Wei Guangde, in later generations, when the Manchu Qing entered the customs and seized the world, they received the yellow books managed by the household department of the Ming Dynasty. Someone actually discovered the yellow book of Chongzhen's 24-year taxation and service from this pile of the most important documents of the Ming Dynasty.

As for the names of the households in the yellow book during the Chongzhen period and the Hongwu period, it is naturally not surprising.

The hidden population naturally has a huge demand for salt, which is why private salt is so popular, and official salt is simply not enough to sell.

As for the salt tax in Ming Dynasty, which is only more than 100 million taels a year, no one has any objections. Of course, the salt tax must be linked to the population. Without the population, how can the salt tax increase.

At the beginning, I heard from Zhang Fugui that he could earn tens of thousands of taels of silver by running salt once. Wei Guangde only thought that this business would definitely make money, but the demand is so much every year, and he can make several trips. He stopped thinking about Yanzheng.

It seems that the family can now earn tens of thousands of taels of silver in dividends from this business every year. This is already a huge fortune, which was unimaginable in the past.

But this time, the great generosity of the old man Xu Pengju really surprised Wei Guangde. They can spend so much money just to keep that golden waterway?

The letter clearly stated that he was asked to give Xu Jie and Yuan Wei a few thousand taels of silver to test their breath. After all, he wanted to talk to Yan Song, who had invaded the government and the opposition. too much.

After a little calculation, Wei Guangde roughly set the price, Xu Jie would give 3000 taels of silver, and Yuan Wei would give 2000 taels of silver first, and let the people in the company exchange it for a meeting ticket and go there to get it.

But for whatever reason, Wei Guangde felt irritated for a while.

Nanjing's idea is good, but now the Ministry of War has not issued an official document to Nanjing, it seems that the time is a bit early.

But it's no wonder Xu Pengju was so nervous. After all, it was a long way from the capital, and he was afraid that if the emperor was tempted by Yan Song's words, he would make a decision and not give them a chance to speak.

Things were a bit difficult to handle, and the money was not easy to send out. Wei Guangde was still thinking about this matter, and a few days passed quietly.

"Lord Yin, Lord Wei, this is the order from Xiyuan just now."

While Wei Guangde was reading in Prince Yu's Mansion, a servant brought in a note out of breath.

Both Wei Guangde and Yin Shixuan put down their books, Wei Guangde moved a little closer to the servant, took the note and read it.

It's no big deal, it's like this every year in the palace exam.

The content on the note is very simple, Emperor Jiajing sent a paper reader for the Jinke Palace Examination.

"It's the will of the examiner."

Wei Guangde said indifferently, stretched out his hand and handed the note to Yin Shizhen, but before Yin Shizhen reached out to take it, Wei Guangde suddenly became aware of something.

"wrong."

While speaking, Wei Guangde had already taken back the note he handed out, and began to watch it carefully again.

Wei Guangde's startled look aroused Yin Shizhen's curiosity, "What's the matter?"

Before Wei Guangde handed over the note, he had already stood up and walked to Wei Guangde's side, his eyes fell on the note.

"There is no Mr. Yan Ge."

Hearing Wei Guangde's words in his ears, Yin Shizhen was startled, and then looked at the note carefully.

"Ming Shaoshi and the Taishi Taishi Libu Shangshu Wuyingdian University scholar Xu Jie, Prince Taibao Hubu Shangshu Wuyingdian University scholar Yuan Wei, Shaobao and Prince Taibao Military Department Shangshu Yang Bo Guo Pu Gaoyao Cai Yuncheng Lei Li Pan En Dong Fen Gao Gong Wan Cai and Pei Yu read the paper."

(End of this chapter)