Jiuxi

Chapter 997 Chapter 995 [Let’s Watch]

On the ninth day of April, the special imperial examination opened in the third year of Yongning kicked off. A total of more than 3,700 scholars from all over the country entered the Imperial Examination Hall. They will spend nine days here racking their brains to compete for more than 300 precious places to enter the officialdom.

Fortunately, the Heluo Gongyuan is spacious enough, and Lu Chen asked Chen Xun to organize craftsmen to repair it last year, so that the candidates do not have to huddle in overly cramped rooms to answer the papers.

Of course, Lu Chen could only do this. With his status, it was inconvenient for him to cheer up the scholars. Besides, he was really too busy.

Li Bingxue is still in the postpartum recuperation period, while Luo Jiujiu is also due to give birth. According to the doctor and the midwife, it will be around mid-to-late April, followed by Wang Chulong and Song Pei in mid-to-late May, and Lin Xi and Gu Wan'er in July and August.

Both the mother and the pregnant woman are in an extremely sensitive moment. Although women of this era value virtue and will try their best to regulate their emotions on their own, Lu Chen cannot just ignore them. No matter how busy he is, he will squeeze out time to accompany them.

Even if it was just random chatting, as long as they had a smile on their faces, Lu Chen wouldn't feel tired.

For example, at this moment he was in the green locust tree courtyard at the back of the palace, talking to the pregnant Luo Jiujiu.

"Has the third child's name been decided?"

Luo Jiujiu lazily leaned on the couch and took the snack handed to her by Lu Chen - her appetite has increased greatly since she became pregnant, especially when Lu Chen was around, it was difficult for her to stop eating.

Lu Chen smiled and said, "It's not even a month old yet, what name should we pick? Let's just give it a nickname first, and then decide on a full name after it's one year old."

"casual?"

Luo Jiujiu turned to look at him and kindly reminded him, "Be careful that Sister Li gets angry."

Lu Chen shook his head and said, "She won't be angry. If I hadn't held her back, she would have gone to the military camp outside the city. I really don't understand. The backbones of the Feiyu Army were all promoted by her. The three deputy commanders were all people she trusted. I never interfered from beginning to end. She has only been pregnant for half a year. Do those guys dare to relax?"

Luo Jiujiu looked at him with a little suspicion.

Lu Chen asked: "What's wrong?"

Luo Jiujiu asked softly: "Do you want Sister Li to leave the army?"

Lu Chen was slightly startled, then realized that she had misunderstood his thoughts, and couldn't help but slow down his tone and said: "I have never thought of confining you in the backyard. As long as you can find something that interests you, I will do my best to support you. I just hope that you take care of your body, so that the family can last a long time."

Luo Jiujiu smiled sweetly and said, "I believe you. By the way, I have something to discuss with you."

Lu Chen nodded and said, "You say."

Luo Jiujiu gently stroked her belly and said slowly: "In the future... I mean in the future, can we keep our children away from those things? I grew up in Shazhou. Although the territory there is not as vast as that of Daqi, there are also intrigues. Fortunately, I am a girl and I only have one brother, so my father will not have those troubles. In those ten years, although the people of Shazhou lived in poverty, other tribes fought for the position of a headman several times. I don't want our children to be like this in the future."

"You're really going to be a mother soon, and you're thinking so far ahead."

Lu Chen looked at her with a smile on his face.

Luo Jiujiu refused and said, "Promise me."

"Okay, okay, I promise you."

Lu Chen held her hand and said gently, "If you can think this way, how can I not agree with you? But don't worry, I promise that our child will have his own world and will not become a useless person who lives in a deep house for a long time and only knows how to fight with brothers."

Luo Jiujiu was a little confused, and she didn't want to bother thinking about it because she believed that Lu Chen would make all the arrangements.

After putting her worries aside, she felt tired and said, "Husband, please go and do the serious work. I want to take a rest."

"it is good."

Lu Chen considerately covered her with a thin blanket, and told the maid and midwife to watch over her carefully, then got up and went to the study room outside the front house.

"Everyone, sit down and tell me what's going on in Beijing recently."

After Lu Chen sat down, he looked at Su Yunqing, Nan Yi, Yin Shangfu and Tan Zheng who were standing solemnly.

Now there are still two groups of Lu family secret guards left in Jiangnan, led by Qu Zhong and Ning Bugui respectively, who mainly assist Huo Zhen in controlling the situation in Jiangnan.

The personnel under Qi Lianfu and Jiang Sheng were scattered throughout the states in northern Jiangnan. Together with the officials promoted by Lu Chen in the past year and the retired soldiers who had joined the official business all over the country, they assisted the officials of the Reform Department and the Censorate in supervising the implementation of the new policy.

Nan Yi, Yin Shangfu and Tan Zheng each have a team of people, each of whom is responsible for a certain matter in the capital, with Su Yunqing in charge of the overall management.

Su Yunqing spoke first, "Your Highness, recently our people have had more than a dozen encounters with the elite of the Textile Weaving Department. We took the initiative to avoid them as requested by Your Highness, and the Textile Weaving Department did not force us too much, but such encounters will definitely increase. If we keep giving in, the impact on morale is secondary. The key is that this will tie our own hands and feet, and we will be squeezed into a narrow circle, so that we will not be able to accomplish anything in the end."

Nan Yi and others all nodded.

Although Wang Chulong has done his best to systematize and formalize the Lu family secret guards in the past few years, the time is too short after all and it cannot be compared with the foundation of the Weaving Bureau.

Not to mention that Qin Zheng is now in charge of the Weaving Bureau again. This special government office can exert 70% to 80% of its strength in his hands. This is also the result of Su Yunqing's efforts in the past three years to interfere with the Weaving Bureau. Otherwise, the Lu family's secret guards may not be a match for the Weaving Bureau at all.

Lu was silent, tapping his fingers on the table. After the imperial court moved the capital, he had been avoiding meeting Qin Zheng in private. This was certainly not because he felt guilty and dared not meet him, but because he was unsure of Qin Zheng's position.

Qin Zheng is different from the other two prime ministers. His loyalty to Li Duan is purer. He has the mentality of a gentleman willing to die for his friend.

Lu Chen can use the overall situation of the world to convince Xu Zuo, and he can also rely on this vision to keep Xue Nanting silent, but he is not sure whether this will work on Qin Zheng.

Lu Chen had already decided to maintain the current tacit understanding and focus on the two major issues of military reform and the new policy, and avoid conflicts with Qin Zheng due to different philosophies.

He knew very well that if Qin Zheng insisted on doing so, there would be no room for maneuver once the two of them spoke out, and the struggle would inevitably become public.

Lu Chen didn't want to delay the overall situation, but it seemed that the Weaving Bureau was an obstacle that could not be avoided after all.

After a long while, Lu Chen said calmly: "From now on, you don't have to deliberately avoid the Weaving Bureau. Just do what you should do, but pay attention to two points. First, don't take the initiative to provoke. Second, even if there is a conflict, it must be controlled within a certain range. You must make it clear to the people below that the most important task now is to ensure the smooth implementation of the new policy. This king will not let them suffer any grievances, but they can't use this king's name to do whatever they want, otherwise they will be punished by military law."

Su Yunqing secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and Nan Yi and others looked happy.

This was Lu Chen's attitude they were waiting for. If they remained timid, they would not be able to exert their influence in the capital.

If they want to do things, they can't be harmonious. Are they just going to leave with their tails between their legs wherever the secret agents of the Textile Bureau are? How can they do things this way?

As long as Lu Chen gives them this authority, the Lu family's secret guards will be able to spread their tentacles and weave a big net.

Lu Chen turned to look at Tan Zheng and asked, "What is the recent discussion about the eight new policies?"

Tan Zheng said respectfully, "Your Highness, the people are very supportive of the cleansing of bureaucracy. In the past few months, the Censorate has removed many officials from office, and the people are mostly praising it. The four measures of household classification, establishing schools, and reforming agriculture and medical care have also received very good responses. After all, these are the benefits that the people can experience firsthand. However, regarding the two measures of setting commercial taxes and encouraging trade, the people's reactions are mixed. Some people think that increasing commercial taxes is taking benefits from the people, while others think that encouraging trade will undermine the foundation of the country."

"Take your time. It takes time for people to change their minds."

Lu Chen sighed softly. In his design, the three items of clearing up bureaucracy, the household classification system and setting commercial taxes were actually a complete set of plans. The former was to improve the efficiency of government operations, and the latter two were to enrich the national treasury and centralize power at the central level. Only by controlling the financial and personnel power could this huge dynasty be put into motion, thus implementing policies that would truly benefit the country and the people.

He looked at Nan Yi and asked, "Have the officials in the capital been behaving well recently?"

Nan Yi bowed his head and said, "Your Highness, most of the people are doing well. Prime Minister Xue and Prime Minister Xu have been fully committed to the new policy recently, and the senior officials of the various ministries have not shown any signs of violating the new policy."

“Still need to be more careful.”

Lu Chen sneered, "These people won't be so honest. The more docile they appear on the surface, the more resentful they are inside, because the new policy is to undermine the foundations of these noble families, powerful families, officials, gentry, and wealthy families. They just don't have a suitable opportunity right now, and there is no one to lead them, so they are so honest, but we must not be careless. You have to realize that since ancient times, reforms and changes cannot be bloodless. When it comes to interests, even the most docile people will think of taking risks."

Everyone responded solemnly.

Yin Shangfu frowned slightly and thought, then said, "Your Majesty, I have a piece of information here, I wonder if it is useful."

"You said."

"I, your humble subordinate, accidentally learned the news yesterday afternoon at the Zanhua Tower in the west city. Three scholars from Nanzhili were drinking and having fun. One of them said after drinking that he would definitely pass the special examination this time."

As soon as these words were spoken, the expressions of the others became serious.

Lu Chen asked calmly, "Yesterday? The Imperial Examination Hall opened today, and they actually still had the mind to drink and have fun? And they said that they would definitely pass the special examination?"

The four words "imperial examination cheating" came to everyone's mind.

In fact, this kind of thing is not uncommon, and it is difficult to prohibit it in all dynasties. After all, this is the way the court selects talents. Those scholars who have made it to the dragon gate are future officials. Which important official in the court does not want to discover a group of forces from them?
But everyone knows the significance of this Enko.

Su Yunqing said in a deep voice: "My Lord, this matter may not be that simple."

If only a few officials commit fraud, it will not affect the overall situation of the new policy, but we are worried about the emergence of a large-scale corruption case.

Lu Chen said calmly: "Bring the life records of the three Nanzhili scholars here."

Yin Sangfu immediately took the order and left.

After more than half an hour, Yin Shangfu came back and brought the information of the three people.

According to the information, these three people all came from prominent families in Jiangnan, but they did not have a very close relationship with the Minister of Rites Kong Yingdong who was in charge of this special examination. At most, it was normal communication between the aristocratic families.

Lu Chen watched quietly, and suddenly laughed: "They don't really have the guts to do that, do they?"

Su Yunqing asked: "My Lord, do you want to stop this exam first?"

"No need."

Lu Chen said calmly: "Let them make a fuss."

(End of this chapter)