A powerful minister of the Song Dynasty

Chapter 168: Jieyuan is your goal (Part )
In order to enforce procedural justice, one must always spend a lot of time and effort to collect evidence.

Moreover, according to Song Xuan's idea, to catch a thief, one must first catch the leader.

Otherwise, the Dou family will always send new killers.

A family annihilation case always leaves many clues and will be investigated by the court.

Especially since Song Xuan had a direct conflict with the Dou family, he became the primary suspect.

The current imperial court does not support killing an entire family, especially for these officials, who should be exiled if possible.

At most, it can be placed on Hainan Island to survive.

This is what Ding Wei did.

After hearing what Song Xuan said, Cao Liyong stroked his beard and nodded:
"You scholars are really thoughtful!"

Cao Liyong had experienced the fierce struggles between Kou Zhun, Ding Wei, and later Ding Wei, Wang Qinruo and others.

Among these scholars, there was only Kou Zhun whom he admired.

The rest of the people have talents, but they don't put their minds into governing the country.

Cao Liyong shook his head.

It is these scholars who are in power today.

No matter how powerful he is in the military of the Song Dynasty, he will be severely suppressed by those scholars.

In particular, although he has firmly established himself as the head of the army, none of his deputies are his men.

Some are from the empress dowager, and some are from other prime ministers.

In short, they check and balance each other.

Never allow one person to hold all the power.

To prevent others from imitating the example of Emperor Taizu of Song, Zhao Kuangyin, who wore the yellow robe.

This is how Emperor Taizu of Song came to power. How could he not understand what those people were thinking?
You have to be on guard.

The current redundant officials in the Song Dynasty were designed from the beginning.

There are layers of Arhats, and everyone is pulling each other down.

No one can hold absolute power.

Only in this way can the state power be stabilized.

As for any problems that arise later, let future generations solve them and trust in their wisdom.

Song Xuan sat on the steps, supporting himself with his hands:

"Hey, Lao Cao, what do you say?"

"If I, an orphan, hadn't focused my mind, I wouldn't be alive today."

"Well, think whatever you want."

Cao Liyong didn't feel offended when Song Xuan called him "Old Cao". Instead, he found it pleasing to the ear. He said in a nonchalant manner:

"It just so happens that I'm staying at your place for a few days."

"Isn't this bad?"

Song Xuan glanced at Cao Liyong:
"How dare those scoundrels come to my house when you, the world-famous Old Cao, live here?"

"How can I use them to plot against the Dou family?"

"Hahaha."

Cao Liyong stroked his beard and laughed a few times, and was very pleased with Song Xuan's flattery.

There is nothing we can do.

If someone likes you, he will praise himself and feel very happy.

But if you don't like someone, no matter how much he flatters you, you still look down on him.

The fate between people is so wonderful.

"How do you know so much about the killer?"

After Cao Liyong finished laughing, he changed the subject.

Song Xuan immediately brought out Dou Chou's student, Gu Zimo, the magistrate of Yingtian Prefecture.

The Dou family commands remotely, but there must always be a local contact.

Whether this matter succeeds or not, someone will definitely write a letter to the Dou family.

Otherwise, how could the balance be paid based solely on the killer's family's words?
"Sure enough, you scholars are too thoughtful."

After listening to Song Xuan's account of the whole story, Cao Liyong still felt that his summary was correct.

"I'm afraid your shop is quite profitable, with a lot of people coming and going."

"Hey, I did make some money." Song Xuan laughed:
"Of course, I can't compare to Lao Cao's salary. I spent a lot of money on studying, so I have to find a way to make a living, otherwise I will have to eat dirt."

"Not necessarily. With your personality, you'd grab the meat from other people's bowls before you run out of meat to eat. You'd never let yourself suffer."

"Hey, the one who knows me best is Lao Cao."

"Hahaha."

Cao Liyong laughed for a while, but did not tell Song Xuan about the debate in the court.

Totally unnecessary.

Wang Gui had just finished his trick and came over to greet Song Xuan.

He just politely bowed to Cao Liyong and didn't ask anything.

He had no idea that this was the highest-ranking boss he would hang out with in the Imperial Guards in the future.

Moreover, Wang Gui could not have imagined that Song Xuan, an ordinary student, would be related to Cao Liyong.

Cao Liyong just had a meal here, told Song Xuan to study hard, and then left with a smile.

He came here to invigilate the exam, so it would not be appropriate for him to stay here with Song Xuan.

To avoid any leak of questions.

This kind of rumor is not uncommon.

The Fajie examination broke the monopoly of the aristocracy, and a large number of common people had the opportunity to enter the officialdom.

It is inevitable that the children of powerful and wealthy people can obtain certain examination contents before the examination by relying on their family connections, commonly known as "going through the back door".

But this is already the fairest kind of exam.

……

Mrs. Gu came out of Lingtai Temple and sighed deeply.

She had been waiting for a long time these past few days, wanting to tell Song Xuan the news that her husband was planning to murder him.

The two of them had a quarrel.

In short, Gu Zimo was very dissatisfied with his wife buying things from Song Twelve Bookstore.

Under the suppression of her husband's power, Mrs. Gu no longer came to Song Xuan's shop.

I can only hope to see it in the temple.

But Shi Erlang didn't come, and Mrs. Gu felt both disappointed and anxious.

The maid beside her comforted the lady and told her not to be so anxious about conceiving a child. If she was sincere, her wish would come true. She could just come more often in the future.

Song Xuan is still reviewing his homework at home.

In addition to continuing to practice the Xikun style, he also read through the Confucian classics.

Although he had read the textbook countless times in the private school in his hometown, he did not have the same photographic memory as Zhang Fangping. He could only review it many times to thoroughly understand it.

The two complement each other, and it is also convenient to use allusions when taking exams on poetry and prose.

The exam is just around the corner, in three days.

The exam will start on August 10th and last for three days.

As for locking the hospital, it was done five days ago.

Nowadays, the time for the examinations in various parts of the Song Dynasty is not completely fixed.

Some places farther away are held in June and July, such as Sichuan and Guangdong.

Most of them are held in August, but there are also some held in September.

Depending on the distance between the prefectures and counties and the capital, the time of the examination was decided by the prefectures and counties themselves.

While this certainly reflects the humane side of the Song Dynasty's system of liberation, it also brought about serious drawbacks:
"Candidates plotted cunningly and often obtained household registrations from nearby places. Some even took the exams in three or more places, hoping that one of them would pass the exams out of many attempts. This led to disputes and lawsuits. The officials tried to prohibit it in many ways, but it was generally impossible to change the situation."

Due to the different examination times in different places, system loopholes emerged.

If students can grasp the time difference between examinations in different places and make full use of it, they can get answers in multiple places.

In the hope that "among many attempts, one will surely succeed."

The phenomenon of impersonating others to obtain a certificate was very common during the Northern Song Dynasty and had never been properly resolved.

As for Kaifeng, the capital of the Song Dynasty, it was a high-incidence area for people to impersonate their place of origin.

The Fajie exam is usually held twice every three years.

However, only Kaifeng Prefecture has a "removal quota" of several hundred people every year.

Most of the other states and counties have about a hundred people.

The difficulty of tens of thousands of people competing for more than a hundred places is certainly different from competing for a few hundred places.

The housing prices in Kaifeng during the Northern Song Dynasty were so high that even the prime minister couldn't afford to buy a house. Besides being the capital, the main reason was the school district.

Of course, the merchants of the Song Dynasty wanted to make more money.

It’s not just about developing school district housing.

They have even developed a new sales segment called "school district graves"!
Candidates from Kaifeng must either have a Kaifeng household registration or be registered in Kaifeng.

Or own real estate in Kaifeng.

If you have neither a household registration nor property, but still want to take advantage of the Kaifeng Prefecture exam.

Then check your family tree and ancestral graves.

If the candidate's name does not appear in the family tree, and the name on the ancestral tombstone does not match the names of the three generations of ancestors filled in on the application file, then you are doomed.

Therefore, many candidates wanted to take the exam in Kaifeng Prefecture.

Those who have money buy houses.

Those who have no money can buy a ancestral tomb.

Some buy people with the same surname as their clan members, some point to hills and mounds as graves, and they use all kinds of methods to search for them in the hope of giving it a try.

Don’t worry about other people’s family trees. Just give them some money and it will become your own.

It doesn’t matter if it’s someone else’s ancestral grave. Just give them some money and it becomes your own.

You can then take the relatively less competitive exam in Kaifeng Prefecture.

In order to pass the imperial examination more easily, many students in the Song Dynasty came up with more solutions than problems.

After all, the market is there.

Where there is demand, there will be trade.

Anyway, we have experienced many years of war during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.

Things like family trees.

Who can tell clearly?
People like Song Xuan who had nothing to ask for just brought some seasonal fruits to express their gratitude to the guarantor.

If you want to work hard on impersonating someone, you must have a little devil to guide you, and then you will have the opportunity to give money to others.

Otherwise, you won’t even be able to send money.

During this period, the government, especially the prefect Yan Shu, took the lead.

They have already completed the screening of all the students who have registered.

Special attention should be paid to candidates who may be impersonating others.

There are originally few places for the test.

If there are candidates coming from other places to exploit loopholes, it will be even more difficult to be admitted.

In particular, the facial descriptions of many candidates on your certificate are quite simple.

The Song Dynasty did not have any separate ID card information, so it could only use guarantees to ensure some fairness.

It is still simpler to get a guarantee certificate for the five people who will take the test of liberation.

If one wants to take the provincial examination, two of the five people must be incumbent officials, and the candidates must also guarantee each other.

It is to prevent you from cheating, the consequences will be serious.

The government office of Yingtian Prefecture has posted the list of names that have passed the review.

It allows everyone to check whether they have passed the review.

Song Xuan didn't care.

When he saw his name, he turned and left.

Wang Gui followed him as a bodyguard.

Wang Gui also knew about the assassination attempt.

He said that it was a good opportunity to try out his newly made double maces, which had never seen blood.

Song Xuan told him not to kill them, but just cripple them so that they would be of some use.

Arrived at the academy.

Wang Zhu became increasingly strict with Song Xuan.

Despite working hard for nearly two months, his understanding of Xikun style is still not good enough!
Wang Zhu originally thought that based on Song Xuan's talent for poetry.

For the Xikun style, it should be easy to master.

I never thought he would progress so slowly.

He simply couldn't believe it.

to this end.

Wang Zhu called Song Xuan directly to the office.

"Song Xuan, tell me the truth, have you been studying seriously during this period?"

Song Xuan simply cried out in injustice.

He has really been studying poetry and books hard recently.

But Wang Zhu obviously didn't believe his words:

"Given your talent, what does this little bit of Xikun poetry mean?"

"Are you still thinking about writing poorly on a regular basis and then doing well on the exam?"

Wang Zhu had some knowledge of this kind of genius.

In particular, the prefect Yan Shu had given special instructions.

It should be noted that Song Xuan always wants to do the kind of drama where he does not make a splash for three years and then suddenly makes a big splash.

This kid used to live a very depressed life.

Always want to stand out and attract a lot of attention!
Wang Zhu is also very concerned about Song Xuan and understands that his character was formed because of his family background since childhood.

This kid has lacked parental love since childhood. He wants to make a name for himself on his own and win everyone's endless attention.

Wang Zhu certainly understands this mentality.

But he was afraid that Song Xuan was used to pretending to be a pig and eating the tiger.

I've wasted my talent and become a real pig.

The talent for poetry displayed by Song Xuan was not really his own, but was the result of the influence of later generations' education and his own interest in it.

He has never received any exam-oriented education such as writing poetry and essays during examinations.

Testing him on math problems is easier than this one.

So even if Song Xuan could write poems and essays in the Xikun style.

It also seems dry, full of flowery words, and not smooth.

Even though Class A has many candidates for the "top scorer in the imperial examination", Wang Zhu has high expectations for Song Xuan.

There is no problem with his policy essays, interpretation of scriptures, and posting of scriptures.

The only shortcoming is poetry!
Unlike others, the overall score is higher.

Song Xuan is the person most likely to represent Yingtian Academy and win the top spot in the imperial examination three years later.

Even though Wang Zhu said that Wang Yaochen was the biggest contender for the next top scholar, he was also trying to stimulate Song Xuan's competitive spirit.

Even if Song Xuan passed the exam with mediocre results, what would be the use?

Wang Zhu and others required Song Xuan to be the first in the test.

First in the provincial examination.

I want to be first in the palace examination!

How can we allow such a good student to use only a little of his potential?

Just pass the imperial examination and you'll be fine?

If you want to take the exam, you must get full marks.

Otherwise, it would be my fault as a teacher for burying the genius Song Xuan!
Will be cursed by future generations.

If you, as a teacher, had not been strict with him, how could he be like this?
Wang Zhu saw that Song Xuan had a good attitude in admitting his mistake, so he stood up again:
"Song Twelve, it's not that I, as a teacher, am targeting you on purpose."

"If you don't get first place in the exam, do you know what you'll face?"

Song Xuan lowered his head slightly and looked at Wang Zhu with a look of doubt on his face.

Wang Zhu had to put pressure on Song Xuan again:

"My classmates have also asked me about you. Over the years, Dou Chou has risen from an ordinary Hanlin scholar to the head of the Hanlin scholars. How many students does he have?"

"You are just a student now, without any power or influence. They are all watching you!"

"If you can get first place in the Fajie exam and demonstrate your strength, and if Dou Chou dies, that will discourage some people from wanting to help the teacher get revenge on you."

"Wait until you win three prizes in a row and become a disciple of the emperor."

"Under the spotlight of the public, even Dou Chou's most loyal students will have to think carefully about whether they want to continue to be your enemy!"

Wang Zhu patted Song Xuan on the shoulder and warned:

"Don't slack off. Right now, becoming the top scholar is your goal, Song Twelve!"

(End of this chapter)