Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 14: A Talented Person from Heaven
"My Lord, I have already found out the identities of these two people. They are from Luoyang. Zhang Shuo was a juren in the 12th year of Hongbao. Three years ago, he offended Prime Minister Gao's followers and was implicated and stripped of his honors. Xia Lin is an ordinary civilian. However, they cheated and deceived people in Luoyang. Although they did not commit serious crimes, they still have a bad record."

The young prince received a pigeon message to inquire about Xia Lin and the others' situation overnight. It turned out that everything Xia Lin said was true. This made him feel relieved. Not only was he relieved, but he was also very happy, because it was obvious that they were not high-ranking officials. This fact itself was very gratifying.

Ever since the cheating in the imperial examinations, coupled with the frequent border incursions by northern barbarians that left the court overwhelmed, Prime Minister Gao has been the only one in power in the court, and has the final say. Prime Minister Gao is from the Gao family of Jiangnan, and he already holds a high position of power in the south. Now that he has monopolized the path to promotion, 60% of the civil and military officials in the court are Prime Minister Gao's followers, and the number of them at the grassroots is even more terrifying.

Therefore, the mission of the young prince this time is to quietly promote a group of people to fight against Prime Minister Gao. The best of these people are commoners, and it would be even better if they have a grudge against Prime Minister Gao. As for how commoners can fight against the aristocratic families, the royal family naturally has a way. As long as they enter the court and give some imperial power, it will naturally play a very good role.

At this time, the little prince came to the window and looked at the sky: "Baokui."

"Yes, my lord."

"Tell me, can this world be peaceful?"

The young prince's confidant immediately knelt on one knee and said: "When the young prince ascends the throne, everything will be clear and bright."

"Keep a close eye on Xia Lin. I think he is a promising talent. Find a position for him." The young prince said, frowning, "No, he is a great poet. If we don't hurry up, someone else might get there first."

Ying Baokui was silent for a moment and then said, "My lord, I have an idea."

"But it doesn't matter."

"The court re-divided the counties two years ago. The details of the capital, prefecture, county, and township are much more complicated than before. Now the counties are short of staff, and the court allows the sale of positions below the township chief. It would be better for the young prince to donate an official position for him to avoid the imperial examination. First, it can prevent him from contacting those dirty literati, and second, it can also consider this boy's ability."

"Bypassing the imperial examination..." The young prince frowned, "If we bypass the imperial examination, it will be difficult to get promoted."

The treasure leader just smiled lightly: "This is not a small matter. If this boy has outstanding abilities, he will naturally stand out. By then, the young prince will probably be able to inherit the throne. Just hold an imperial examination for him."

After hearing this, the young prince clapped his hands and laughed: "Baokui, Baokui, you are born rough but so smart. Others all join the army, but you are different. The hand that holds the knife can also pick up the embroidery needle without hesitation."

"Your Highness, you are too kind. I am only helping...the Crown Prince to solve his problem."

"Hahahahahaha...Okay, okay, you really know how to talk."

While they were chatting, Xia Lin and the other two were strolling in the market in Yangzhou. Yangzhou is a place in the south of the Yangtze River where literature flourished. Poems copied by street calligraphers could be seen everywhere along the way. Today's hot search was naturally the three poems from yesterday. People could be heard discussing this everywhere along the way.

Although the author is still unknown, one thing is certain: Xia Lin has become famous. However, neither he nor Lao Zhang thinks it is a big deal. Lao Zhang has seen a lot of ups and downs. On the contrary, the little princess was so excited that when she saw someone discussing poetry, she would run over and ask, "What do you think of the Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng?"

She didn't care about the other two poems, but the Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng was simply a killer for her. Last night when she was sleeping, she tossed and turned, pondering some sentences in the Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng. The more she thought about it, the more beautiful it seemed to her, and it made her intoxicated to chew on it.

"Xia Daosheng." The little princess suddenly ran back from the crowd in front, grabbed Xia Lin's sleeve and said, "Someone is setting up a ring in front, go and fight!"

Xia Lin was stunned for a moment, and patted his ribs: "Do you think our ribs are enough for that big yellow dog to eat? If you want to bury me, just tell me. I want a white marble tombstone, okay?"

The little princess was overjoyed: "How can you not say a single serious word? Go away, go away, we are not here to fight."

In fact, mature young men would not join in the fun, but the little princess was so lively that she dragged Xia Lin into the crowd. After they walked in, they found that this was a literary competition arena.

This thing became popular in the late Jin Dynasty. Everyone in the Jin Dynasty knew about it. It was bullshit, but they were a thousand years ahead of the times in playing it. The so-called literary competition was poetry, chess, wine and tea, which included writing poems, writing inscriptions, playing chess, tasting wine and competing in tea. The first four were almost the same process until Xia Lin's time, but this tea competition was different. The contestants each took out the good tea they had collected, brewed it in turns, tasted and scored the result. The first score was for the color of the tea soup, the second for the water mark, and then the technique of dividing the tea was considered. Yang Wanli wrote in a poem about tea, "How can dividing tea be as good as brewing tea? Brewing tea is not as skillful as dividing tea..."

This is all elegant work, but it becomes exciting once it is performed in a ring.

"Go! Go!" The little princess pushed Xia Lin, "I see that old man has won a lot of games. Go and put a damper on his prestige."

Xia Lin looked towards the stage, where a white-haired old man was sitting cross-legged. In front of him were tea sets, a chessboard, and writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone. This was the standard configuration for a literary competition. The person who came up had to give him ten taels of silver, and if he won, he would get fifty taels in return.

According to Xia Lin's calculations when he was free, based on the conversion of various anchors in the current era, it can be concluded that the purchasing power of one tael of silver is roughly equivalent to 700 RMB, so the registration fee for a game is about 7,000 RMB, and if you win it is 35,000 RMB, which is not a huge amount but is quite exciting.

The old man looked relaxed and at ease. Seeing that no one dared to come up to compete, he twisted his beard, smiled faintly, and said loudly: "I thought that this peak of literature should be full of literary talent, elegance and detail, but I didn't expect that no one could win a certain game in three days. It's really that each generation is worse than the previous one, alas..."

Hearing this, the little princess angrily pulled Xia Lin and said, "Go and teach him a lesson! I'm so mad at him! Look at what he said!"

Xia Lin exclaimed: "You are not from Yangzhou, why are you so angry?" "I don't care, just go!"

The little princess pushed Xia Lin hard, like a willful child, and then Lao Zhang came up and said, "Fifty taels, how much can you take? If not, I'll do it."

"You go for the wine tasting and tea drinking, and I'll play chess and write poetry, OK?"

"OK!" Old Zhang made an OK gesture to Xia Lin: "Today we will suck this old man clean."

At this moment, the old man didn't know what kind of dirty thing was targeting him, and he was still shaking his head smugly. The onlookers were also angry, but this is how the literary arena is. The really powerful ones would not bother to go up, and ordinary scoundrels would not be able to beat them. This is the mentality of those who make a living from this.

But who knows… there’s dirt today.

At this moment, Xia Lin had been pushed up by the young princess. He simply tossed his sleeves and walked onto the stage. He bowed to the old man and said, "Hello, father-in-law. I will give it a try."

The old man narrowed his eyes and looked at Xia Lin, then stretched out his hand calmly: "Sincerely, ten taels of silver."

Xia Lin nodded, and then took out a hundred taels: "Play chess, ten games."

This move not only confused the audience but also confused the old man. What was the meaning of playing ten rounds at once?
"Whose young master is this? He doesn't know whether to live or die."

"The one on the stage is the little Zhuge Zhu Banxian, how dare a kid like him?"

"A newborn calf is not afraid of a tiger. Let's just watch the fun."

"Yes, yes, this excitement is quite interesting."

There was a lot of discussion in the audience, but Xia Lin had already taken his seat. The old man took the money and weighed it in his hand with a smile: "My friend, don't cry when the time comes."

Xia Lin just smiled and said, "I'll just accept the loss if I lose."

"Good!" The little princess in the audience clapped her hands vigorously. She was the only one in the audience cheering for Xia Lin with her shrill voice, which attracted the attention of others.

The old man shook his head and sat down, took out the toys in his hand and started the first game.

At this time, Xia Lin took out his mobile phone, opened the chess and card game hall, entered the nightmare Ai game, and pointed at the chess table: "Chess or Go?"

"Follow my friend."

"Then let's play five games of chess first and then five games of Go." Xia Lin said with a relaxed smile, "What do you think?"

"Then I'll do as you wish, my friend."

The old man looked very arrogant, but he was calm and composed. Then the two rolled the dice to decide who would go first according to the rules. In the first game, Xia Lin made the first move, and he adjusted Ai's chess player to make the first move. He made the same move as Ai did. After a few rounds, the calm old man began to hesitate. His eyes roamed around the chessboard, and his face became extremely serious.

At this moment, Xia Lin looked very relaxed, and even had time to chat with the little princess and Lao Zhang in the audience: "If we win money later, we will treat you to a meal tonight."

The princess certainly disdained restaurants, but she was just happy, clapping her hands and jumping around. Old Zhang waved his fan and said, "Then I'm going to Yuhechun to eat the delicacies from the mountains and the sea."

"Eat, eat, eat whatever you want."

Xia Lin not only plays chess quickly, but also makes his moves without thinking. The key is that every move he makes makes people sweat and feel under great pressure. Even the Zhuge Liang of the Little Half-Immortal Competition is useless. With a cheating device in hand, he can get the highest score in the game with just one click.

The first game of chess ended with the death of Little Zhuge Zhu Banxian. The whole process took only seventeen moves, which was very fast, only one-third of the time of an incense stick.

"Sincerely." Xia Lin smiled and stretched out his hand to Zhu Banxian: "Fifty."

(End of this chapter)