future library.

Chapter 104 Township Examination (3)

Surrounded by the sound of brushing, tens of thousands of people writing with a brush at the same time is also a very spectacular thing. Rows of rooms for exams are like neat public toilets, and everyone is blushing. His eyes widened, he tried his best to pour things out, delusional to release all the living things in his stomach.

The inspectors, with their hands behind their backs, paced squarely under the guard of two or three soldiers, looking around boredly while recalling the glorious past.Occasionally, when I saw the blank expression of the students behind the board, I thought half dissatisfied and half proud in my heart: I think back then...

To say that among the various officials of the imperial court, the average "education" is the highest, except for the bachelors of the pavilion, the Ministry of Rites is the Ministry of Rites. slow.Since normal central officials had to be selected through imperial examinations, the shape of the pyramids in the Great Xia Dynasty was quite rugged, but it would be very refreshing to be able to stand on top of the peak.

Emperor Taizong once stipulated: "The number of names reported by the Ministry of Rites should be limited to 400." In other words, every three years, central officials will be replenished from these 400 people, and the next 200 people will be from the same Jinshi. If they are not related, it is almost certain It is to be sent to the states. Based on this calculation, based on the average official life span of an official of 30 years, his competitors are only 2000 people, and there are so many positions in the central government that not only are there vacancies left The royal family members are bound to have people who fish in troubled waters.But in any case, it is easy for an official who is not on the right path to take advantage of a position and gain weight for two years, but it is difficult for him to hold on to his position or even be promoted.

On the premise that Daxia's official administration has not yet collapsed, the entire country is still firmly in the hands of the civil servants formed through the imperial examination.

Even the Star Warlocks can only abuse one of the civil servants, but cannot decisively confront the entire civil servant group - although they do not have to do so, but even if they do, it is actually impossible.Violence can only destroy but not build. Social order and social production ultimately need to be managed by civil servants. Two forces in Chinese history have made positive and negative propositions. Genghis Khan has proved it, and Huang Taiji has proved it. .

The annual imperial examination can be regarded as a national social organization recruiting new members. They put forward their own requirements, then use old members to examine new members, and arrange various positions for new members - using national resources ——They are not very concerned about what kind of qualities officials should have, but they have done deep research on what kind of new members can ensure the interests of old members and thus develop them.

The rural examination is the first step of screening.

Cheng Jinzhou unfolded the paper from left to right, gently pressed it down with a paperweight, and rubbed the paper with his hand before looking at the topic.

The paper is high-quality jute paper, which is considered the best among ordinary papers. Except around the capital, it must be only in Quanzhou and other places where sea merchants gather.

When he saw the title, Cheng Jinzhou was suddenly surprised, it turned out to be "The way of civil and martial arts, Yurong".The subsequent explanation made Cheng Jinzhou doubtful: Since Husband He Lian was old, the northern captives invaded the frontiers and entered our country of Xia. If they entered the land of no one, they would harm our heaven and the people, which is unprecedented.It is based on the fact that Zhen Wang De Ji stands in the middle, so as to educate Mo Ke to walk outside. ...... Today, I want to seek the art of long-term peace and stability, but there is no end of defense.If you want to get the way to keep it, how should you use it to make it as long and long as possible.

The imperial examination has always been the benchmark for the imperial court, representing what the government considers to be the most important things in the first three years and the next three years. Even though the provincial examination is small, it is no exception.

When seeing this topic, Cheng Jinzhou's first reaction was: Is there going to be a war?

Liu Bin was transferred to the transfer envoy just because of his outstanding position as the guardian envoy of Longdong.The transfer of ministers who are good at border affairs back to the mainland shows that the strength of the northern captives is not strong. Now the topic of "Yu Rong" seems to show that the imperial court has the desire to actively expand outward.In this era, there is Daliang in the north of Daxia, Northern Han in the west, Daxia in the southeast, and Jingnan Dynasty in the south. Except for the latter, they are all strong opponents. As for other countries farther away, although there is no direct conflict of interest, they are Beware of the war potential of the Astromancers.

Under such circumstances, Great Xia has not fought a large-scale war for three to forty years.Emperor Lizong of the country wanted to reform again. Cheng Jinzhou used the knowledge he had learned in the past few months to think, but he couldn't find any reason to go to war.

"What a strange topic." Cheng Jinzhou shook his head and said to himself.

There are also many candidates who have the same doubts as him.

The imperial examination is not simply a performance of literary talents. Although people imagine it can be like this, in fact, the examinees have to figure out the examiner's mind, the examiners have to figure out the examiner's mind, and the chief examiner has to figure out the imperial court's mind... Intellectual quizzes based on literature, if you can't see the court's movements clearly, and you can't understand the deep meaning of the questions, it will be even more difficult to pass the exam.

Cheng Jinzhou’s usual accumulation is not enough to understand the mystery of it, and he himself is not capable of discussing the topic and discussing the matter. He simply opened the township examination record in the ring and thought: People say that the situation changes in 50 years, so I just read it 50 years ago. Scholars, how do you answer the question.

……

Chen Jie took his dozen or so people and wandered around the dock area.

Since the reputation of Cheng Bingxun and his son was ruined, he could no longer stay in Shaonan City. Cheng Jinzhou sent him to the capital, and all the dozen or so people under his command were sent to sea ships. He would never be able to return to Daxia in this life.

Chen Jie didn't care, as long as he could stay in Daxia.Those people, including him, were originally people who secretly entered the Holy Cult. As long as they were caught, they would have no choice but to serve as priests in Daxia for the rest of their lives.As far as the imperial court was concerned, those who joined the religion without permission were not even qualified to become priests.But if you go to other countries, such as Jingnan, they will welcome you, and with the reward of a few hundred taels of silver, there will be nothing to resist.

In fact, Chen Jie felt quite happy to be able to come to the prosperous place of the capital.The only regret is that after arriving in Xiajing, he had nothing to do except wandering on the pier every day. Instead, he took in more than a dozen younger brothers.A group of rascals, coupled with the aristocratic connections behind them, it is quite pleasant to pretend to be a tiger.

The West Wharf is a sea boat wharf, and the local gangsters have already occupied the site cleanly. Chen Jie didn’t dare to make trouble when he first arrived, so he took a dozen people with him to do some work to help people talk about things, and contact them from time to time. I went to the local church, and every month at the beginning of the month, I went to Cross Street to collect some expenses, and my life was considered nourishing.

A gust of sea breeze blew, and there was the sound of chants, Chen Jie turned his head, looked at the tall sailing boat and said, "If one day, there is also a boat, it will be easy to eat and drink."

"We eat and drink on the boat, right?" The young man with a bunt next to him chuckled, looked in the direction of the pier and said, "If you ask me, the paddy fields are really real, there are dozens of acres of paddy fields. , hire someone, and you don’t have to worry about anything. Not to mention you don’t have to go out to sea to fight for your life.”

"I need to worry too much." Naturally, someone retorted: "Those shipowners, don't they also sleep on the shore every day? Those who have a field sleep with their wives, and those with a boat sleep with their women. Those who have nothing have to sleep with others..."

"I think you are going to sell your ass..." Life on the pier has always been rough, and they don't get angry when they scold each other.

Chen Jie doesn't like this kind of atmosphere very much. He has received basic education in Cheng's family and worked as a manager. He considers himself to be a half-educated person, but in the current environment, there are only dishes on the plate, so how can he choose? Pick and choose, just find some profitable business first, and then find a way to jump up and down.

Seeing the boss showing an impatient expression, the few people who followed him stopped knowingly, and someone opened a new topic: "Boss, that Mr. Cheng, has he really become a second-level star warlock?"

"It's a two-star warlock, ignorant. The two of you, Ada and Mao, I think are cats and dogs." Chen Jie pointed at the two people following him and cursed, but his face showed a smile.He thought that he and Cheng Jinzhou were in a prosperous relationship, and the title of a two-star warlock was almost a stimulant.

As soon as he finished speaking, Amao slapped his head vigorously and said, "I said that two-star warlocks are so familiar, but I heard someone mention it today."

"Who mentioned it?" Chen Jie asked immediately. The dozen or so people he had taken in were like fleas lying on rotten leaves. Will not miss.They can survive in the cracks of local gangsters, the government and wealthy businessmen, and what they eat is well-informed money.

"The youngest of the rice gang, he slept in the fence this morning, and was dragged out of the bed, making a fuss, and then he went after someone said something about a two-star warlock." Amao said in front of the news, Seeing Chen Jie's serious face, he knew that something was wrong, so he quickly added: "There are as many as seven or eight companies transporting grain in the sea merchants. It is said that the youngest of the Dao Gang can kill ten of them. Rushing to the front, if the Dao Gang is going to kill someone, he must be indispensable."

"Women are always the ones who break things. You didn't hear what they said clearly."

Amao shook his head and said: "They spoke very loudly. I was eating breakfast in front of them, so I heard a rough idea. But I know the girl who is washing up in front of me. She must have heard clearly."

If there are leftovers from the meals that Goulan Yard cooked for the guests the day before, they will be eaten with other people—of course, the people mentioned here, beggars, etc. are not counted, most of them are rascals, and some It doesn't mean that you can't buy peace with money.

Chen Jie took out a small ingot of silver from his sleeve, handed it to Amao and said, "Go and say hello, come back and report to me immediately. If it has anything to do with the Cheng family, there won't be any delay."

Before Amao was about to pick up the money, he shrank his hand sharply and said coldly: "Brothers eat bran-swallowed vegetables, it's up to you to eat delicious and spicy food. If you dare to miss the opportunity, I won't be the only one who will kill you." gone."

Amao swallowed, still staring at the silver. Five taels is a huge amount of money. They don't have the opportunity to touch whole ingots of silver on weekdays.

The others looked at Chen Jie strangely, but he didn't notice anything.There are a lot of two-star warlocks in Daxia, but usually they have the title of second-star warlock first, and then they have the title of two-star warlock. People with a higher star level than their level are rare. When people talk about it, they usually call it level. Not called a star rating.And the only person he could think of who would be clearly identified as a two-star warlock was Cheng Jinzhou.

This is a perfect opportunity.

Chen Jie clenched his fist tightly.

……

(End of this chapter)