I heard you have nine tails

"Siamese wolves are ambitious, you must guard against them!"

"There is no basis for the words. There are people living on the other side of the sea. Who knows if it is a cover they pulled out?"

"My lord, you are too worried. You have also seen Europa's envoy with your own eyes. How can you talk about such nonsense?"

"The firearms of the Siamese are so developed, and the utensils of the foreigners can be seen. If you ignore it, you should be worried!"

The court hall, which was supposed to be solemn, was now bustling like a vegetable market.And all of this is because of a proposal to open the sea ban and send merchant ships.

"Since you guys are arguing endlessly, why don't you listen to what His Highness means." After listening to these people arguing for a quarter of an hour, Mr. Xu Ge's head was already swollen, and finally he couldn't help reminding the people on the steps that he seemed to have lost his mind. people.As soon as he made a sound, the originally noisy hall fell silent instantly. "Your Highness,"

The emperor's throne was built at the highest place in the entire hall, but now a new chair has been added to the side of the throne, as the seat of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.The eunuch who bowed to the side and waited for the order cleared his throat vigorously.

Three years hadn't brought much change to Li Lin's appearance, but it had completely matured the prince who was still somewhat jerky.With old age and frailty, Emperor Jinghe spent more and more time in bed, and the postponement of the early court has changed from capricious to unavoidable. He became the actual new king in the hearts of all officials.

After receiving Deshan's reminder, Li Lin withdrew his gaze and looked at Elder Xu Ge with a normal expression as if he was not in a daze at all. "Are you finished, my lords?"

The young prince had a calm voice and calm eyes.However, everyone who caught that gaze unconsciously lowered their heads.

So what if there is endless debate?His Highness has made up his mind.

"Wu Shangshu, do you have any comments?" Seeing that everyone was silent, Li Lin directly clicked on the Minister of Rites to answer.

Under the watchful eyes of a group of people, Wu Shangshu couldn't say whether it was feasible or not, so he could only say vaguely: "The examination is coming soon, and it may be difficult for the Ministry of Rites to find manpower."

"Well, you're right, the imperial examination is the most important thing, so let's leave this matter to the Ministry of Household Affairs." Li Lin nodded and said straight away.

Xu Shangshu from the household department had no choice but to answer, and asked a few more worried questions. Li Lin answered them one by one, and explained the arrangement by the way.The officials all heard that His Royal Highness may have been prepared for a long time,

"This year's general examination and palace examination papers have been approved, and the top [-] candidates have to go through them one by one. Please adults take care." Li Lin continued to drop the bombshell with a calm expression.

If it was Emperor Jinghe, at most he would look at the top three papers after the palace examination. It is good to be able to attend the palace examination normally, how could he be as serious as this His Highness?

Wu Shangshu also has a big head.His Royal Highness said so, the result of this test must be clean, and there must be no tricks at all.

Among other things, Zhang Ting and Zhang Guanyu, one of the chief examiners this year, are from Zhan Shifu.Zhang Guanyu returned from meritorious service in Huaiyang, and has been promoted all the way. This year, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince specially appointed him to be the chief examiner, which shows that he attaches great importance to it.

"If you have nothing to do, my lords, you can retreat."

Li Lin nodded, and Deshan said loudly, "Back to court—"

"Your Highness, there is a message from the Kunning Palace, please go there after you leave the court." The maid who sent the message arrived as soon as the court was over.

After the impeachment three years ago, many people were released from the harem, and many people died. Only Deshan and Jinse remained beside Li Lin, and now there are many strange new faces.Li Lin walked in a hurry, and said as he walked, "Go to Qianqing Palace first."

Every morning after the morning court, Li Lin would go to Qianqing Palace to visit Emperor Jinghe.Although most of the time he is kicked out.

"How is the father today?"

The Qianqing Palace is permeated with the smell of candles and elixirs all the year round.

After the imperial physicians all saluted, the first person said vaguely: "Your Majesty... your spirit is not bad, as long as you rest at ease for a period of time. It's just that your majesty still needs to take the elixir. I really..."

Li Lin's eyes dimmed, and he went straight in.

"My son-in-law pays respects to his father."

Jing Hedi's body was already skinny, his cheeks were sunken, and his appearance was haggard.Wrapped in a dragon robe that looked too big, he was kneeling and sitting on the futon.

"The prince is here, sit down."

"Father is not feeling well, and it is not advisable to overwork." Li Lin said directly. "Eunuch Gao, can you take your father's medicine today?"

"Zhen, I'm not sick, what medicine do I take?" Jing Hedi sneered, and with this smile, he coughed non-stop.He still said intermittently: "Bring...bring it."

Eunuch Gao brought a bowl of warm water, but Jing Hedi pushed it away and kept waving his hands.

Eunuch Gao looked at Li Lin pleadingly.Li Lin nodded reluctantly.Eunuch Gao immediately took out the elixir from the wooden box on the table, and touched Jing Hedi with his hands.

Jing Hedi showed a relieved expression, and took the pill with warm water.

"Father." Li Lin sighed, and his tone became much softer, "Listen to the imperial physician first, and wait until the illness is cured before taking the elixir?"

Emperor Jinghe swallowed the medicine bowl and finally recovered his breath. "If the prince came to persuade you, you should go back quickly!"

Li Lin sat with him for a while, said a few words, and then left Qianqing Palace and turned to Kunning Palace.As he walked, he listened to Deshan's reply.

"Your Majesty called someone to come twice when you went to court. She must be in a hurry. I don't know what's going on. The Fourth Highness also came here... Jueming hasn't come back yet."

The fourth prince Li Xiao is also the only brother of Li Lin who is still walking around in the palace, and it is also customary to come to say hello every day.It's strange that Juming hasn't come back yet.

"That's all." When Kunning Palace arrived, Li Lin could already think of why Empress Xu wanted him.

Sure enough, as soon as he stepped into the Kunning Palace, he heard salutes and salutations in unison: "The daughter of the people has seen His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"It's a coincidence for Da Lang to come. This palace is full of excitement." Empress Xu stepped forward with a smile, and waved her hand by the way, calling the group of girls who were as delicate as flowers to get up.These are the daughters of important officials in the court, all of them are innocent, have good looks, and are about the same age.At this moment they "coincided" with His Highness the Crown Prince, lowered their eyes shyly, their faces flushed.The generous one has already looked up directly.

Li Lin was well aware of this, but he couldn't help but ask, "What's the matter with the empress asking the son to come here?"

"It turned out that Shiro wanted to find you with some problems in his studies, but he heard that you were busy, so I, the queen mother, had the cheek to call you over." Li Lin didn't say a word about this excuse.Empress Xu smiled and glanced at the girls in the palace, and said softly: "I came here first today, it just so happened that the Ministry of Internal Affairs just sent me the orders, all of which are fresh and tender in color, you each get a piece of material, go back and rest. Tomorrow, when the palace is free, I will call you into the palace again."

"Yes. Thank you, Empress Empress, for your kindness. The girl will leave." The girls replied in unison.

After they all went out, Empress Xu asked, "How is it? Is there anyone who is pleasing to the eye?"

Li Lin was helpless.It has been three years, and he has become accustomed to such a blatant "draft" in the palace by Empress Xu.

Three years ago, Yu Shi's impeachment of Li Lin's favored minister was suppressed by Jing Hedi with all his strength, but the cleaning of the harem had to go through the Queen after all.After this incident, Empress Xu stepped up her efforts to find a suitable princess for Li Lin.It is not easy for Li Lin to be able to hold back stubbornly until now.

"The queen mother just said that the fourth brother has doubts in his studies?" Li Lin couldn't answer, so he had to avoid talking about it.

However, when it comes to the parents and children, Empress Xu didn't even frown. "If he has any doubts, just ask Mr. What can I trouble you for? Just now, the second one from the left is the granddaughter of Mr. Xu Ge. She has no personality or talent, and I think it's very good. How do you look?"

Elder Xu Ge's granddaughter is the one Concubine Hui wanted Li Ji to marry.Li Lin felt a little dazed when he thought about it. "Concubine Hui hasn't visited you recently?"

Li Ji was stripped to a white body, and it lasted for three years, and the original marriage was ruined. He just talked about the eldest daughter of the Langzhong, and passed through the door in Changchun Palace without a sound, and there has been no movement so far.

According to Li Lin's thinking, Li Ji is his younger brother after all, and if he has been imprisoned for a few years, if he is honest, it will be a matter of time before the county king is restored and he is ordered to surrender.

Unexpectedly, when this was mentioned, Empress Xu's face sank. "She sent someone to beg you?"

"No." Seeing that Empress Xu was not happy, Li Lin stopped mentioning this and changed the subject and asked, "Where is fourth brother?"

Empress Xu asked Li Xiao to come out and salute.

Li Xiao was already 14 years old, and his body quickly sprang up.His small round face when he was young became more and more similar to Empress Xu after growing up.

He has now moved to Yonghe Palace, but he will come back to visit his mother from time to time.

"The younger brother pays homage to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"I haven't seen you for a while, and my fourth brother has grown taller again." Li Lin patted Li Xiao on the shoulder, and said with a smile, "It's just that he's still a little thin, so we can't neglect riding and shooting."

Li Xiao showed a disapproving expression.Empress Xu smiled and said, "This child is too weak, let him be a scholar."

Li Xiao's schoolwork is indeed nothing to say, and the gentlemen in Shangshufang have all praised it.It's not convenient for Li Lin to say more if his ambition is not in riding and shooting.

The three of them sat down and had a meal. Li Lin checked Li Xiao's homework again before leaving.

Later, the Ministry of Rites really asked someone to bring the papers.

The cooperation with Siam to go to sea was finally carried out smoothly, Li Lin was in a good mood, and in the afternoon he made a special trip to the school grounds for a jog.He also used a little more in the evening. Seeing the stack of papers, he smiled and asked Deshan who was waiting beside him: "I don't know if I go to take the exam alone, can I get it?"

"Your Highness was joking, you go to take the test, of course you will be the number one."

Li Lin just mentioned it casually, and smiled when he heard this.He has confidence in his own strength, but it is inevitable that he will be a little bully when compared with other candidates with the literary talents taught by Tan Taifu and the level of strategy and theory jointly cultivated by the gentlemen of Zhan Shifu.

Thinking of Tan Taifu, he couldn't help but think of another person, and his eyes dimmed a lot.

I don't know where he is now.

Li Lin sorted out his thoughts before starting to read the paper.

The examination paper has the titles of "Four Books" and "Five Classics". The "Four Books" are all one-by-one, and the "Five Classics" are divided into five rooms according to the scriptures selected by the test.Among the top [-], the number of people in each room is similar.Each paper is firstly copied by full-time staff with elegant handwriting to avoid being marked, plagiarized or cheated, and then reviewed by the examiner in the room, divided into three grades, marked by crosses, triangles and circles , well-written sentences will be circled directly.

Li Lin read each article, and felt that he was worthy of being selected by Dazhao every three years. Each article was colorful and brilliant.It's just that in Li Lin's opinion, after all, it's a bit too well-behaved, and few people can express their opinions directly.

Turning another page, his eyes suddenly lit up.

The ranking of this paper is not too high, and a few triangles are occasionally mixed in a row of circles.But almost every sentence is circled.The reason is that it is still too bold.

Candidates not only expressed their opinions, but also uttered nonsense, strongly praising the opening of the sea ban.

There are traces of smearing in the corrections. I think that after seeing His Royal Highness the Crown Prince support going to sea after the morning court today, the examiners changed their views and raised the ranking.

Li Lin read it happily, read the annotations one by one, and wrote down in person: "Unique thought, literary talent." Eight characters, and then went back to read the candidate's name.

However, what caught his eyes was a word he was very familiar with: Tan Chang.