A powerful minister of the Song Dynasty

Chapter 109: You thought I was still in the Imperial City Division (Part )
All of these people came through the imperial examination, except Cao Liyong.

So I have a good impression of the poem Song Xuan wrote in the exam room.

Although Fan Zhongyan said that this exam was intended to simulate the imperial examination, there were still many loopholes.

However, none of the prime ministers raised any issues, as it was just an academy examination after all.

Could it be that it will be even stricter than the imperial examination?

After everyone had finished looking at it, Liu E also asked someone to bring it to him for a look.

Although Zhao Zhen sat on the imperial throne, Liu E sat on the right side of the throne.

Others didn't know, but Liu E was already planning to wear the emperor's dragon robe, and the people below were already making the robe.

"Thank you, Minister."

As the one with the least "artistic" talent, Cao Liyong could not squeeze into that circle of literati, so the circulated book finally fell into his hands.

Although Liu E was in charge of great power, she was also extremely wary of Cao Liyong.

Cao Li used this person's previous reputation for refusing to cede territory to ensure that the Song Dynasty's prestige would not be damaged when he was sent as an envoy to the Liao Kingdom.

This person has an inflexible character and is dedicated to punishing those who take chances, but he is also extremely caring towards his relatives and friends, and everyone who follows him gets promoted.

His influence in the army was not small, so Liu E did not call Cao Liyong by his name to show respect.

Cao Liyong retreated respectfully and sat back in his chair. He remembered the name of the student Song Xuan.

Anyone who could be Yan Shu's teacher must be talented, and he was quite courageous to dare to compete with a Hanlin scholar whose position was comparable to that of a prime minister.

Liu E took the paper, looked at it carefully, and nodded slightly.

It seems that Yan Shu did not give up on himself when he went to Yingtian Prefecture, but was recruiting talents for the country.

"Mother, let me take a look too."

Liu E did not refuse and handed it directly to the emperor.

After Zhao Zhen took it, he looked at it carefully and really felt that Song Xuan's writing was good.

Yingtian Academy really produces talented people.

Fortunately, Mr. Yan had a keen eye for talent and did not allow Dou Chou to do whatever he wanted.

Although his mother was in charge of the government now, Zhao Zhen was always preparing to take charge of the government himself.

Therefore, he listened carefully at every court meeting and tried hard to understand the true meaning of what others said.

Zhao Zhen knew that these prime ministers would not speak out their true feelings like Cao Liyong did.

Even Cao Liyong has his own little thoughts when he speaks.

In Zhao Zhen's opinion, being an emperor is actually quite interesting, especially sitting here and looking at the people below, who all have their own plans.

Zhao Zhen then became secretly worried. He hoped that this young student named Song Xuan would not be like Liu Sanbian, who only knew how to write poetry but was not good at the imperial examinations.

But just as Zhao Zhen was thinking, he heard Lu Yijian say:
"Your Majesty, Song Xuan doesn't seem like a bookworm. The policy papers he wrote are quite interesting."

Lu Yijian's words made the prime ministers, who had relaxed, look at him.

Who is this Song Xuan?

Could it be someone from your Lu family?

Even Wang Qinruo, the goiter minister who wanted to stay out of it, glanced at Lu Yijian.

However, Lu Yijian did not look at him, but handed the policy paper to Wang Zeng beside him and asked him to take a look.

After reading it, Wang Zeng was surprised.

Song Xuan, this young man, is really brave. He wrote on the test paper that the examiner was too idealistic and naive. How can one have the best of both worlds?

This essay also indirectly proves that those poems were written by Song Xuan himself, otherwise there would not be so many wonderful sentences that have never been seen before in the article.

Li Deming had posthumously conferred the title of emperor on his father more than ten years ago, and he himself had defeated the Liao Kingdom, and his military power was at its peak.

Now, they did not invade the Song Dynasty, but continued to fight with the Ganzhou Uighurs. If it is according to what the student Song Xuan wrote, the Uighurs and other forces would certainly not be able to resist, and by then the Western Xia forces would control the entire Hexi Corridor.

Afterwards, Li Mingde would inevitably become overconfident and openly declare himself emperor.

After reading it, Wang Zeng said nothing and passed it to several prime ministers.

Zhang Zhibai also nodded slightly: "This boy has such a long-term vision at such a young age, which is quite good."

Wang Qinruo was able to start from a Bozhou defense prosecutor and dared to confront powerful ministers such as Kou Zhun and Ding Wei. He must have seen countless people.

If an ordinary person wants to deceive him, it will only hinder his own career.

All the powerful opponents who opposed him fell, but Wang Qinruo always stood at the center of power and never left for long.

He carefully read the policy paper written by Song Xuan. It was obvious that such insights were not something a country boy could come up with.

"Prefect Yan has discovered quite a few talented individuals this time. One is bold in thinking and acting, and the other has a photographic memory. They are indeed child prodigies. I'll be able to find them when I go to other places."

The Song Dynasty as a whole respected child prodigies.

But there are too many artificial prodigies.

Wang Qinruo suspected that Yan Shu took so much trouble to promote outstanding students for the sake of his own future.

Otherwise, if they were so capable, they would have been discovered by previous officials and pushed to the court to take part in the boy's examination specially prepared for child prodigies.

How could it be your turn, Yan Shu, to discover a "child prodigy"?

There must be something fishy about this matter.

Have you finally lost the arrogance you had when you beat people up?

Several people also understood the subtext of Wang Qinruo not proposing a policy paper but mentioning a child prodigy instead.

Anyone who can reach this phase position is not a smart person.
"Uncle Tong has always liked to promote the younger generation and give them opportunities." Zhang Zhibai stroked his beard and said:
"The emergence of so many talented people is enough to prove that our Song Dynasty is becoming increasingly powerful. Only then can so many talented scholars emerge."

Zhang Zhibai's words made the others nod their heads.

Instead, Empress Dowager Liu, who was sitting high up, spoke up: "Since the Prime Minister has spoken, we can't just find someone to investigate this matter."

"Your Majesty, I wish to go to Yingtian Prefecture." Cao Liyong was the first to volunteer.
"If any scoundrel dares to deceive me, I will definitely bring him to Tokyo."

Cao Liyong was so enthusiastic that no one objected.

The position of Hanlin Bachelor is here, and there must be someone with a higher position than him to take it.

"can."

Empress Dowager Liu nodded.

It is appropriate to let Cao Liyong handle this kind of thing, as he will not collude with Dou Yuanbin.

But Wang Zeng was still worried and requested to add two more deputy envoys to go together.

He recommended his good friend Li Di.

Lu Yijian also recommended his good friend Ding Du, asking the two of them to accompany Cao Liyong so that Cao Liyong would not have full control and they would not know the truth.

The most important thing is that Lu Yijian wants Ding Du to replace Dou Chou's position as Hanlin Bachelor. This is the best arrangement!

……

Song family.

As the leader, Old Master Song listened to the good news from his subordinates that Zhang Fangping had ranked first in the exam, and his grandson Song Xuan, who disliked studying the most, actually ranked third.

In total, out of the four subjects, they each got first place in two subjects.

Such outstanding results made Mr. Song a little dazed for a moment.

"Is this true?"

"In reply to Grandpa, the academy has already posted the list of honorees. Twelve Brother's name has long been known throughout Song City. The poems he wrote even made Liu Sanbian cry."

Old Master Song looked at his eldest son, Song Lin, who was stunned beside him and snorted coldly. Who was it that said that no one in the third son's branch had any future?
Now slap me in the face.

"Impossible." Song Lin shook his head repeatedly: "It must be the same name and surname."

"There's Zhang Fangping here," the old man said, holding his cane.
"How can you feel it's fake?"

Song Lin said nothing more.

In response to the sudden disappearance of the three evils in Lema Town, Old Master Song sent people to inquire about it. It turned out that it was his grandson who took action and cooperated with the government to wipe them out.

Of course, he also knew about his second brother Twelve.

Old Master Song had long since abandoned his third son, the gambler.

He never expected that this grandson would do such a heinous thing, colluding with outsiders to plot against his own family, who was his own brother.

If this kind of thing doesn't make an example of someone, the Song family will fall apart!

Song Kang had already had one of his legs broken by him, and was kept at home to prevent him from being killed by Xiao Twelve's men.

Old Master Song believed that Song Xuan was capable of doing such a thing. He was just waiting for his family's reaction to see whether he would be branded as the murderer of his brother.

Fortunately, I was clear about enforcing the family rules.

Otherwise, when he passes the imperial examination at the age of twelve, how will he "report" to his family?
Mr. Song didn't even dare to think about it.

"Dad, Twelve bought a big house in Songcheng, and he keeps crying poor to us."

Listening to his eldest son's words, Mr. Song poked the ground with his cane:
"Little Twelve is right. Not only did you, as his uncle, never help him, but you've always been coveting his money. If you don't want your teeth anymore, just go find him. Dad won't stop you."

Song Lin was speechless for a moment.

"Humph, you really don't know why the Beggars' Sect is the only dominant force in Lema Town today. Who did this?"

The beggar from outside the area, Boss Cao, has a close connection with his grandson.

Others may not understand, but he does.

Old Master Song snorted coldly.

Why is it that none of these sons can become successful?

Unfortunately, the second son, who was the most capable, died early!

Now there are only two scholars in the family. After the appearance of a monster like Little Twelve, Mr. Song felt that the main line of the Song family would not be diverted.

Although the other cousins ​​had sons working as officials in Ningling County, there was no one in their family who had become a juren.

This is the trump card that can suppress them and make them obedient.

After Mr. Song learned that Song Hao and others had all failed the exam, he was really depressed for a while.

Now that I heard that Song Xuan was admitted to Yingtian Academy, I have new hope.

But the old man was not happy all night, because the students from the private school came back the next day and brought back a piece of news.

That is, Song Xuan offended the Hanlin scholar of the time and was thrown into prison.

Mr. Song drank an extra bowl of wine for lunch, but not long after he put down his chopsticks, he heard such explosive news and was stunned for a moment.

"Sure?"

Song Lin suddenly became alert: "Don't talk nonsense! We can't afford to offend such a noble figure as the Hanlin scholar!"

"I heard that Twelfth Brother kicked Scholar Dou out of the window, and also broke the leg of the Hanlin Scholar's son."

"Did you see it with your own eyes?"

"Just heard."

"Dad." Song Lin looked at the old man hurriedly:
"This is a capital offense. Twelve has had a violent temper since he was young. Even his father got beaten by him. It was fine if he was ignorant of his own limitations in Lema Town, but after arriving in Song City, he actually caused such a horrific disaster. We should kick him out of the house as soon as possible to prevent him from bringing disaster upon us!"

Snapped.

Mr. Song threw all the bowls on the table and pointed at his eldest son and said:
"Get out of here, and I'll pretend you're not my son."

"father."

"You still remember to call me dad!"

Mr. Song is very tired.

He thought that only by combining the family's strength could they go further.

But these people, out of their own little thoughts, all held him back.

He was sure that when he died, this family would be broken up.

After Old Master Song calmed down the group, he took the initiative to speak: "Go and invite Gang Leader Cao to my house. I have something to discuss with you."

"go."

It was not until the old man knocked on the ground with his cane that someone came to do the work.

Song Shier has never been a content person since he was young.

When Boss Cao learned that it was the old man of the Song family who came to invite him, he came happily.

"Boss Cao, I invite you to my humble abode because I really have something to discuss with you."

Gang Leader Cao just received a human flesh letter from Song Xuan two days ago, saying that he wanted to investigate the entire family of the current Hanlin scholar.

He was furious at that time!

Do you really think I'm still working in the Imperial City Bureau?
I'm just a fucking beggar now.

Lao Cao knew that Song Xuan was an uneasy person. As a result, as soon as he gained a foothold in Songcheng, he dared to go against a man who was more powerful than the prime minister.

If he really goes to Tokyo to make a living in the future, will he have to go against the prime minister of the time?

Gang leader Cao cursed for a long time before sending people to Tokyo to investigate.

Let’s see if the Dou family has any concubines. If they do, the whole family must be taken away, not even an illegitimate child can be spared.

Boss Cao listened to the old man from the Song family telling him how his grandson had caused a big trouble and broke the legs of the Hanlin scholar and his son.

He felt that it was unlikely that he would be thrown into jail now.

He was the one who broke Dou Chou's son's leg and disposed of the dirty silver.

As long as Song Xuan doesn't tell anyone, even if the best detective in Tokyo comes, he won't be able to find out who did it.

There is no evidence, let alone any witnesses.

How to solve this kind of case?
So Lao Cao judged that this should be a rumor.

unreal.

According to Song Xuan's personality, he would never hand such a big handle to others.

"Master Song, please rest assured." Gang Leader Cao took a sip of hot tea and spat out a few mouthfuls of tea foam.
"Shi Er Lang has always been intelligent. Even if he broke the legs of both the Hanlin scholar and his son, do you think he could leave behind witnesses and evidence and then go to jail?"

Old Master Song narrowed his eyes slightly. As expected, Old Cao knew about this, otherwise he would never be so calm when he suddenly heard the news.

Then he would be more relieved.

"Boss Cao is right, but my grandson relies on his good health and often wields swords and guns."

Mr. Song patted the box beside him:

"His father can't be relied upon either, so I, an old man, am the only one left to look after him. I've saved up some coffin money, and it's all here. If Gang Leader Cao could go with me to Songcheng to see how my grandson is doing?"

"Even if he was wrongly imprisoned, he still needs to be treated appropriately to avoid suffering in prison."

"That's not impossible." Gang Leader Cao chuckled and placed his hand on the box.
"I have already hidden your coffin. I am afraid it will not be needed to save Shi Er Lang."

(End of this chapter)