The best county magistrate

After announcing the winner of the second question, Lin Ziming and Fu Chuan's people arrived at Yang Xuanchen's table.

"Master, Boss Ma, Master Yan, please come to the private room at Tianzi No. 1 to have a chat."

Yang Xuanchen's talent has deeply impressed the number one talent in Qingzhou. Lin Ziming's current attitude is very respectful, even bending deeper.

Although Ma Fugui and Yan Chenghai often moved around each other on weekdays, the fact that they were invited to talk to each other today was definitely due to the smoke rising from their ancestral graves.

During the Lantern Festival, a grand gathering of literati, no merchants had ever been able to set foot in the Tianzi No. 1 private room in Wangyue Tower.

However, he, Ma Fugui, did it!

Everyone stopped talking and laughing, straightened their clothes, and followed Lin Ziming to the second floor.

With everyone's attention, they entered the Tianzi No. 1 private room. As the door of the private room closed, the Wangyue Tower was filled with people and there was a lot of discussion.

"The Ma family is about to rise!"

"No, with this guy's talent, it seems like there will be another aristocratic family in Qingzhou."

Although Wu Zuopei and the others still sneered at Ma, especially Ma Chao.

But they had to admit that the ridiculously handsome young man was indeed at the pinnacle of Qingzhou in terms of poetry and couplets.

At this time, in Private Room No. 1 of Tianzi, Yang Xuanchen was hiding behind everyone, lowering his head and touching his nose, not daring to take a breath.

After the greetings, a exclamation shocked everyone to focus their attention behind Ma Fugui.

"Yang Xuanchen!"

Yang Xuanchen trembled and could only smile and walked out from behind Ma Fugui.

"I've met Lord Yan, I've met all the doctors, students..."

Before he finished speaking, he was pulled to Mr. Li by Yan Chenghai.

"Mr. Li, this is the Qingshui County Magistrate that the junior told you, Yang Xuanchen!"

Mr. Li looked him up and down, stroking his beard with a thoughtful look in his eyes, nodded, and said with a smile.

"I, the Imperial Academy, are offering wine to Li Changliu!"

Yang Xuanchen's pupils suddenly shrank, I'll blanch it, Lord Jiu!

Dayan's Minister of Education, although he is not ranked among the Three Officials, his status and honor are equal to those of the Three Officials.

"Your Majesty, Yang Xuanchen, pays homage to Lord Jijiu."

Li Changliu received a courtesy and smiled, helping him up, "Chenghai just said that today is a cultural gathering, and we only talk about Fengya and not about state affairs."

"Then there is no distinction between superiors and subordinates."

"In my opinion, your talents are not only the best in Qingzhou, but also the best in Great Yan."

The three academy heads in Qingzhou smiled and nodded, agreeing with his assessment, but the others were shocked.

Especially the three talented men from Qingzhou who came in with Yang Xuanchen to join in the fun.

None of the big guys in the room spoke, and they didn't dare to say anything, but they couldn't hide the disbelief in their eyes.

"Sit down, don't stand." Yan Chenghai said.

Everyone sat down and said nothing.

"Haha, don't be formal, let's talk. All of us here are young and talented people from Qingzhou. We should be more close to each other." Li Changliu's words broke the embarrassment.

Wu Zuopei, Wen Jingxing and others breathed a long sigh of relief, and slowly began to talk more.

But between the lines, there was a lot of dissatisfaction with Yang Xuanchen.

Because he pretended to be the Wenhui's boss.

This pretty boy not only hugged him, but also focused the eyes of those girls on him. He was really hateful.

For example, I mentioned the vernacular literary policy essay published by Chunwei last year.

"Master Yang, everyone in the world says that you have the talent of being the number one scholar, but why you only get the title of Tanhualang? The students are puzzled. Please clarify."

Yang Xuanchen glanced at Wu Zuopei, you bitch, what do you want to do with your explicit and implicit sarcasm?

"But it doesn't matter. It's Yang's honor to be able to solve the doubts of the great talent Wu."

Wu Zuopei stood up and bowed his head, "Throughout the ages, all questions in the palace examination have been answered in Chinese prose. Why do you use vernacular Chinese?"

"Everyone in the world also said that you are trying to gain fame and reputation, and want to use this article to win your majesty's favor, so you find another way to steal the chicken."

Yang Xuanchen's eyes flashed and he did not answer immediately, but Guo Changzhou, the president of Donghuang Academy, expressed his dissatisfaction.

"Don't be rude to me for training."

Wu Zuopei cupped his hands and sat back, but his eyes were sharp and the corners of his mouth were raised, feeling extremely proud.

"Doctor Guo, it doesn't matter. Students don't have the chance to clear their names in Qingshui County."

"Brother Wu happened to mention this today, and it's just right for students to talk to you about it."

"The question in the Spring Palace Examination last year was about frontier policy. However, there was no requirement to use essays to answer the questions, so the students chose to use vernacular essays. This is one of them."

At this point, Yang Xuanchen changed the subject, "The student would like to ask Brother Wu, what is policy theory?"

Wu Zuopei cupped his hands and replied: "For state affairs, such as disaster relief, reform, and people's livelihood, we should take the governance of the country and security as the basis for planning strategies and practical things, and use political elaboration or security policies to formulate the plans in mind."

Yang Xuanchen nodded. As one of the four great talents in Qingzhou, Wu Zuopei's answer was naturally no problem.

However, he smiled, "May I ask Brother Wu, who will ultimately implement the policy of stabilizing the northwest frontier?"

Wu Zuopei snorted, "Do you even need to ask? Of course it will be carried out by officials at all levels guarding the border."

Ignoring his stupid look, Yang Xuanchen talked eloquently.

"Haha, last year's question was about the northwest frontier. My northwest is bordered by Mengzhou and Liangzhou with barbarians."

"However, there is a desert outside Liangzhou Pass and few people visit it, but there is a large grassland outside Fuliang Pass in Mengzhou, and there are many tribes of barbarians on the grassland."

"Every autumn, the Huma cavalry goes south around the pass and plunders our two states of Dayan, right?"

Yan Chenghai and Li Changliu frowned when they mentioned the barbarian looting. This had always been a matter of concern to the court.

The three heads of the academy and Ma Fugui also had some thoughts. After all, Liangmeng and Lizhou were robbed every autumn, and Ma's business would also be affected at that time.

Not only did the people suffer, the court was humiliated, and the merchants suffered huge losses.

Before Wu Zuopei could answer, Yang Xuanchen continued: "In the past ten years of my reign, the weather has been good and the country and the people are peaceful, but the people of the two states have always been living in nightmares."

"Your Majesty's desire to destroy the barbarians is known throughout the country, but do you know why this battle has not been started yet?"

"It's not that I, Dayan, don't want to fight, it's that I, Dayan, can't fight, and I can't fight!"

Yan Chenghai nodded when he heard the words. Emperor Jianwen had been practicing benevolent policies over the years, collecting food and improving people's livelihood, in order to one day pacify the northwest.

"If it takes a lot of effort to explain it to you, I'll talk to you about the art of war first."

"Do you understand the principle of attacking with troops first, then attacking friends, then attacking troops, and then attacking the city?"

Everyone had heard it clearly before, so why did they suddenly talk about the art of war?

It would be unreasonable for a scholar to know nothing about the art of war. Everyone here thought deeply about this sentence.

"I, Dayan, have an army that can fight a hundred battles, so I can win a hundred battles, but it is not a good thing. To subjugate the enemy's troops without fighting is a good thing."

Li Changliu's eyes widened. Could it be possible to conquer the northwest barbarians without fighting?

He disagreed with Yang Xuanchen's point of view. Since ancient times, the expansion of territory has been conquered by soldiers.

Although there are precedents for civil servants to take down a city with just one word, this is the entire northwest grassland, a grassland full of tribes.

There are many barbarians who refuse to obey the civilized people. How can they defeat the enemy without fighting?

"Mengzhou has no governor, few civil servants, and many military attachés. General Pingxi leads the three armies to guard Liangmeng Province."

"However, the political affairs of the two states are mostly controlled by the military attachés, and the people of the two states are subject to iron military discipline. I would like to ask Brother Wu, how many of the military attachés can read official articles?"

"How many people can understand an obscure policy statement given to the Northwest Army?"

"When will the policy be issued? When will people's livelihood be changed? The people can't afford to wait, and the court can't afford to wait."

“The good thing about the strategy of vernacular writing is that you don’t need to explain it to the military attaches, they can understand it as soon as they read it.”

"My strategy focuses on trade, travel convenience, and missionary education, which subtly makes all the barbarians outside the pass want to go to court."

Speaking of this, Wen Jingxing sneered and retorted: "As the saying goes, those who are not of my race must have different hearts. Barbarians are not people who can be educated. I do not agree with what Mr. Yang said."

Yang Xuanchen laughed loudly, "This is the foolish opinion of a scholar!"

As soon as these words came out, everyone in the audience was shocked.

Most of the people here are scholars, even Yang Xuanchen himself is a scholar. It is unwise to choose to use the group mocking skill on this occasion.

The three great scholars frowned with sullen expressions, and Li Changliu and Yan Chenghai also had expressions of dissatisfaction on their faces.

The Ma family, his son, and the three daughters widened their eyes, and Yang Xuanchen became dizzy.