Raising the Demon

Chapter 415
Zaitianfu, Dongting, Wenxiang Street.

I don’t know if it’s a convention, but most of the tribute houses and academies in major cities are located in Dongting, such as Mengcheng, Xijing, and Zaitianfu.

Because of the existence of the Gongyuan, Dongting is also the cultural center of the entire Zaitianfu. The most prosperous area is the few streets near Wenxiang Street, and it is at a crossroad of the main branch of Wenxiang Street. It is already crowded at this time.

I don’t know where the rich man invested and bought four houses at the four corners of the intersection, and built four pontoon bridges between the four buildings, and dozens of platforms of different heights. Looking from below, it looks like a hollowed out tall pagoda At the top of the pontoon, there is also a cloud boat full of flowers, in which there are bursts of fairy music, and mist-like petals are constantly floating down, and the petals are like snow and ice. , falling on the human body, it seems that it is about to melt away.

At this time, the biggest poetry festival of the year in Zaitianfu is being held here.

The huge banner of "Gui Moxuan Poetry and Prose Club" hangs down from the cloud boat, floating in the mid-air, and can be seen in all directions. There are a few lines of banners beside it: "Seek for writing if you are thirsty, and regard ink as your life." "" "A thousand pieces of gold is not enough to find a wonderful article." "A thousand pieces of gold are easy to get, but a single word is hard to find." Waiting for the wind to spread.

Gold and silver jewels are stacked on each high platform, which is very visually impactful. The first platform is only stacked with small silver ingots, and then there are silver ingots, gold ingots, gold ingots, jade...

After reaching the fifth floor, it is no longer gold, silver and jewelry, but brocade boxes. No one can see what is contained in the brocade boxes, which arouses a lot of discussion among the people.

Several carriages passed through the bustling crowd and stopped at this crossroads. Several soldiers who opened the way in front waved their whips and wanted to go forward to drive people away, but were stopped by the people in the carriages.

"My lord, I'm really sorry. This is the shortest road to the Gongyuan from here. It's very smooth here on weekdays..." On the side of the carriage, an official in charge of guarding was very frightened. The lord suddenly said that he wanted to go The Tribute Academy inspected it, but they didn't want to make a big fanfare. They traveled in a hurry and didn't plan the route.This lord is a distinguished guest of lord Zhizhou, if he is upset, his black hat will be lost.

"No problem." In the carriage was a middle-aged man with long eyebrows and slender beard. He narrowed his eyes slightly to look at the crowd in front of him, and said, "What are you doing?"

The officer in charge of the guard ran out, grabbed a scholar nearby and asked something, turned around and ran back, and reported back: "My lord, a poetry meeting is being held here."

"Poetry meeting? How did this poetry meeting set up a high platform, and what are the gold, silver and jewels on it?" The adult asked again, and the guard officer could only turn his face and ask back. After a while, he returned disconcerted. , said: "My lord, I have asked many people, but they don't know that the poetry meeting has not started yet."

In addition to this middle-aged man, there was another middle-aged man with a slightly fat body sitting in the car. At this time, he said with a smile: "Although I Zai Tianfu is located in a remote place, there are often literati who organize spontaneously. Poetry meeting, today's poetry meeting is extraordinarily novel, I have never seen this form before. Master Qi, why don't we wait here for a while and observe it?"

"That's exactly what I mean!" The middle-aged man known as Mr. Qi laughed, and said, "I also want to see what is so special about Zai Tianfu's poems."

In fact, this Sir Qi came to Zaitianfu from Shangjing this time. He is an official of the Ministry of Rites who is in charge of the provincial examination in Zaitianzhou. He is a doctor of the Ministry of Rites. The official department is the department in charge of the imperial examination.Originally, it would have been impossible to invite a competent director to a small and remote place like Zaitianfu, but it just so happened that this year, the number of people who came to Zaitian Prefecture to participate in the Dashangke at the Longzong Fairy Conference was far more than in previous years. A doctor was sent to show his attention.

And the slightly fat middle-aged man who accompanied him was Mr. Song Hui, the supervisor of the Rites Department of Zaitian Mansion.

In terms of rank, there was a half-level difference between the two, but in terms of real power, Song Hui couldn't catch up with Lord Qi Qi Lusi, so Qi Lusi was even more polite.

Fortunately, Master Qi seemed to have a very good temper and was easy to get along with, which made Song Hui heave a sigh of relief.

Among the crowd, many literati who have just received the news are coming from all directions. Most of these literati are in groups of three or four, and they form groups of five or six, which can be regarded as small groups and small circles.

At this time, there was a group passing by the side of the carriage. There were five people in this small group, four of them were wearing thin shirts, holding folding fans lightly in their hands. A scholar in clothes, with a bookcase on his back and two packages, he walked through the crowd with difficulty. When he passed by the carriage, he put down the two packages in his hands, wiped his sweat with his hands, raised his head, and revealed A pair of familiar triangular eyes came.

Hu Caijun.

If Zi Baifeng was here, he would definitely call out.

Hu Caijun saw that the four people in front of him had gone far away, so he quickly picked up the bookcase again, and walked a few steps quickly to catch up with the footsteps of the people in front of him.

He was just an ordinary person, and the things he was carrying were extremely heavy. He staggered a few steps and almost fell to the ground, but was grabbed by someone.

Hu Caijun bowed his head in thanks, without even looking at the man, turned around and ran forward again.

Zhu Zhu turned his head to look at his back, frowned and said, "It's strange, I seem to have seen that person before..."

Several monks and his apprentice Guo Dali followed him, Guo Dali heard the words and asked, "Uncle Zhuzi, do you know him?"

"It's like an old acquaintance of mine, but...how could he be here?" Zhu Zi shook his head and said, "It must be just an imagination."

From Mengcheng to Zaitian Mansion, it is hundreds of thousands of miles away. If ordinary people travel by land, they may not be able to get here in ten years.And to take the cloud ship, the cost required is not something ordinary people can afford. The Hu family may have been the richest man in Mengcheng, but outside of Mengcheng, they are nothing.

Zhu Zi threw that idea out of his mind, and continued to lead the crowd to patrol the crowd. Zhu Zi's piercing eyes had been practiced a long time ago, and after a while, he caught a few thieves who planned to take advantage of the crowd, and beat them out with sticks.

Zhuzi was also invited to guard the place today, but he used his professional skills to be the security guard. I have to say that Zhuzi is very dedicated and professional.

Not long after, a few drums rang, a man in commoner clothes rang the big drum, and then said loudly: "Everyone, the Gui Moxuan Poetry Conference is about to start, today's rules are very simple, it is the competition. Poetry competition, word competition, and article competition. There are no judges in this poetry conference, and all of our talents present are judges, everyone, please look up!"

Everyone looked up, and Qi Lusi and Song Hui also stepped out of the carriage and looked up.

The layers of high platforms are like strange mushrooms, spiraling up, full of rhythm and layering.

"The people who designed and built this high platform are not simple." Qi Lusi said.

"It turns out that my lord is also proficient in the way of architecture, I admire it." Song Hui flattered me a little.

Nonsense, anyone can see that this is not easy.

In fact, this design comes from Zi Baifeng's idea, Xiaopan's design, Zijian's drawings, and the craftsmanship of the Zi clan. Although there are only four pillars to support it, the whole building is as stable as a mountain and will never collapse.

"Each platform has a title, which hangs under the platform. Everyone, please look at the first platform on the left."

Everyone followed the big man's gaze, and saw a banner hanging under the platform: "To write a poem of five unique poems, ink characters must be included."

"Look, everyone, this is the problem of this platform. If anyone wants to challenge this problem, please come to me to get a number plate and solve the problem." Da Han paused and said, "Everyone may be confused, since it is a Sai word, where is Sai?"

"Our rules are very simple. Any two talents can compose poems at the same time, and all the talents present will judge together, and everyone will decide who can take the stage." The big man beat the big drum with a bang, and said: Before looking at the platform, there is a wooden box in front of the platform. Any challenger can choose to write down his number plate and put it in the wooden box to challenge others, or he can choose to grab other people’s number plates to challenge others, and the winner will board the box. Platform, the loser loses the opportunity. On the first platform, there are some small gifts, and then solve the next question, the winner continues to advance to the next platform, and the loser receives the silver to step down. If you want to challenge again, you can get the number again , start again, and so on for the platforms above.”

"That's kind of interesting." Qi Lusi laughed, and said, "Isn't this just a fight? It turns out that the poetry club can also fight."

Qi Lusi found it novel, and the others naturally found it even more novel.

"Do you think this rule is fairly clear?" The big man beat the drum again and asked loudly.

"Understood, understood!" Many literati shouted, shouting loudly.

We are all cultural people, and there is no problem with understanding.

Those who have something to do, immediately squeezed to the front to get the number plate, and then waved the number plate and said: "I will show my shame first, who is willing to challenge?"

Someone stood up again, planning to step forward to challenge.

There was also a big man standing beside the platform, he was full of spirit like the big man just now, and his voice was loud, and he shouted loudly: "Okay, Mr. Jin Fuping on the No. 1 card and Mr. Dongshen on the No. 2 card, please Jin Fuping!" Young master come first!"

Mr. Jin Fuping groaned for a while, and then chanted a poem. Dongshen, the No. 2 envoy, didn't give in, and read out his poem aloud. Qi Lusi stroked his beard, shook his head and said: "The two People's literary talents are too average."

(End of this chapter)