I Rely on Beauty to Stabilize the Country

Gu Yuanbai was playing with the self-made crossbow that was barely pieced together, looking at this exquisite and light handicraft product, he couldn't help but lament what kind of luck he was.

As soon as I went out, I met a research-oriented talent, and this talent is still in the process of self-exploration, and has already reached some theoretical and practical conclusions.

Xu Ning sat aside nervously, beside him sat an imperial doctor and a young eunuch, who were applying medicine to heal his wounds, this extravagant treatment made Xu Ning restless.

This carriage looked huge from the outside, but after entering it, I realized that it was even bigger than it looked from the outside.Even if there were two people sitting beside him, it was not crowded. The floor was covered with blankets as soft as water, and the color was extremely beautiful. Xu Ning had never touched such a good thing, and such a luxurious thing, was trampled on like this. the soles of the feet.

Xu Ning lowered his head, not daring to look at Gu Yuanbai. He was uneasy and expectant. He watched the lord playing with his self-made crossbow, and couldn't help worrying whether the lord would look down on these things too.

After playing with it for a while, Gu Yuanbai put down the crossbow that had been destroyed by those people, took the handkerchief Tian Fusheng handed over, wiped his hands, and asked the imperial doctor, "How is it?"

"Young Master's body is already healthy," the imperial doctor came one by one, "what he suffers now is only a flesh wound, not a lung or heart. It's just that his diet is a little irregular, and he should have a little stomachache."

Xu Ning widened his eyes in surprise, staring closely at his hand holding his clothes.This doctor is so powerful, he knew so much after only taking the pulse for a while.

Gu Yuanbai nodded lightly, then looked at Xu Ning with a smile, and said softly, "How did you make this crossbow?"

"There are thirty-six military weapons, and the bow is the first; there are eight out of ten martial arts, and the bow is the first." This is what Hua Yue wrote in "Cuiwei Beizhenglu" in the Southern Song Dynasty. However, the frontier nomads are equestrian and strong. In order to resist these people, bows and arrows have become the primary choice of infantry.

The founding emperor of the Daheng Dynasty paid special attention to military affairs, and firmly controlled the blueprints of crossbows, especially improved crossbows, on the military and political level. Military weapons were strictly prohibited from being disseminated among the people. Forget about making it.

However, although the crossbow made by Xu Ning is broken, it can still be seen that it is not a single shooting hole, which means that the crossbow made by this scholar has caught up with the level of weapons used by the military.

This is powerful, very powerful.

Gu Yuanbai showed appreciation in his eyes, and Xu Ning stammered where he got the inspiration from and how he produced it.At the end, he clenched his fists excitedly, looked up at Gu Yuanbai and said, "My lord! This is useful. Craftsmanship is of great use. Whether it is farming or military affairs, the existence of craftsmen is indispensable! This is not It's not a shameful thing to do without doing business properly!"

As soon as Xu Ning raised his head, he saw the appreciation in Gu Yuanbai's eyes. He finished speaking out of habit, but his expression became dull.

Carriage, guard, doctor, attendant.

This young man has an extraordinary bearing, looks as elegant as a man in the sky, and acts in a pampered manner. Such a big man, is he actually admiring him?Appreciate him as a poor scholar doing carpentry?

"You're right," Gu Yuanbai nodded in agreement, and said, "Guan Zhong, who proposed 'Scholar, Farmer, Industry and Commerce' in the past, was originally from a merchant family. He used the method of a merchant to prosper Qi. There is no distinction between high and low, and these four actions are all in parallel. Scholars, farmers, craftsmen and merchants, Guan Zhong believes that they are all the people of the country, and they can prosper the country by performing their duties. The prosperity of Yin and Shang cannot be separated from the business Sheng. But after the demise of the Yin and Shang Dynasties, Zhou believed that the way of industry and commerce would ruin agriculture and lead to the subjugation of the country, so in the Zhou system, he despised industry and commerce, which is the reason why commerce and industry are the last."

Xu Ning opened his mouth and looked straight at Gu Yuanbai, his lips fluttered a few times but he didn't know what to say.

Gu Yuanbai asked Tian Fusheng to return the damaged crossbow to Xu Ning. Xu Ning held the crossbow helplessly, glanced at the window, and asked cautiously, "Master, where are you taking Xiaosheng?"

Tian Fusheng rolled up the curtains of the carriage, Xu Ning subconsciously looked outside, and the next moment his eyes widened.

The tall, majestic and majestic gate of the palace is in front of you, and the tiles are shining in the sun, which is beautiful.

Gu Yuanbai didn't care about his expression, and asked with a smile: "Aside from crossbows, what else can you do?"

"I...Xiaosheng, kid..." Xu Ning was in a daze, at a loss as to what to call himself. "In addition to being very interested in these things, Xiaosheng also tried to improve some farm tools."

He looked very flustered, too, can anyone enter the palace?

Every step of the horse's kicking sound could shake Xu Ning's soul out. When the carriage stopped, the white-faced scholar with a face full of bruises was so uneasy that anyone could tell.

The imperial doctor and palace attendant took Xu Ning out of the carriage, and the guards outside stood upright.The chief guard stretched out his hand to lift the curtain of the car, and stretched out his hand, "Slow down, Your Majesty."

Xu Ning: "!"

He gasped, his head was buzzing, and he felt dizzy as if he was about to pass out the next moment.

Gu Yuanbai stretched out his hand from the carriage, and gently put it on the hand of the chief guard.The head of the guard lowered his head and carefully pulled Gu Yuanbai out of the car. His Majesty was not in good health, and the people who served him around him would always be overly careful with him, for fear that he would bump into him, and something might happen. .

Just holding the hand of the Holy One, the chief guard has to be extremely careful.The Holy Majesty's skin is delicate, but the palm of the chief guard is extremely rough, with calluses and a rough touch. Every time he holds the hand of the Holy Majesty, the chief guard feels like a stone.

After stepping on the ground, Xu Ning glanced there subconsciously, only to find that there were exquisite carvings on the bricks on the ground.He finally regained some intelligence this time, and knelt heavily on the ground with a plop.

The dragon boots appeared in front of my eyes, and the sage said: "Follow me."

The side hall of the Xuanzheng Palace is usually the place where the emperor summons his courtiers to discuss political affairs. Gu Yuanbai gave Xu Ning a seat, and Xu Ning moved half of his buttocks to sit on the chair tremblingly, stepping on the ground with his feet, as if stepping on clouds.

Gu Yuanbai chatted with Xu Ning very gently, Xu Ning gradually recovered from his nervous state of being unable to think, and when he talked about his favorite carpenter, the man's eyes lit up.

Xu Ning has many bold ideas in this era, and what is even more rare is that Xu Ning's ideas can be realized in the contemporary environment, which is closer to the development of Daheng's national conditions.

Gu Yuanbai immediately asked Tian Fusheng to find out the books about craftsmen in Da Nei Zangshu Pavilion and give them to Xu Ning, and finally arranged for Xu Ning to go to the engineering department in the outer suburbs of the capital.

This is a department set up by Gu Yuanbai himself and managed by the Supervision Office. The candidates are all craftsmen with excellent skills and passion for this industry discovered and sought by the Supervision Office. What is beneficial, no matter what it is, is rewarded heavily.

However, the final results are always painless, and the research cost of the engineering department is extremely huge. People from the supervision office have complained to Gu Yuanbai many times, thinking that the engineering department is a useless existence.

But Gu Yuanbai insisted and gave full support to the engineering department.Now that Xu Ning is in front of him, it is really a surprise. Gu Yuanbai believes that what the engineering department lacks is only a thought with aura, and now, the thought has come.

Xu Ning accepted the book collection and appointment in a daze.He touched these books and listened to the words of encouragement from the Holy Majesty, his eyes blushed unconsciously.

These books have been listed as banned books by Daheng, and businessmen of all dynasties and dynasties are at the end. These despised books about craftsmen are more rare than the lonely books of Daru. Xu Ning's voice was unsteady: "My lord, the boy will not let you down. !"

His gaze gradually hardened.

Having said so much with His Majesty, His Majesty not only does not despise craftsmen, but also has a lot of understanding and ideas.Xu Ning was surprised by what the Holy One said, such as "the improvement of Zhuge's crossbow", "the rope is used to tie the ox, and the body of the plow is shortened", "the columbine car that combines sowing and fertilization", and some "weaving", "water wheel" and so on. It also makes sense.

Now he feels his hands are itchy, and he is so excited that he even wants to go to the engineering department that the Holy Majesty said, and work with those colleagues who are also familiar with craftsman's work to complete the Holy Majesty's idea.

To be able to do what you love, to contribute to the world, to share the worries and problems of the Holy One, what better thing than this?

Xu Ning felt that the wounds all over his body could not feel any pain.

Gu Yuanbai was extremely happy to accept a highly talented scientific research talent, and this joy was maintained until the day of the palace examination.

Candidates entered the Golden Palace at dawn, and the people from the Ministry of Etiquette were in charge of the entire palace examination process. After the formal examination process was completed, the sky outside was already bright.

The invigilator of the palace examination can be performed by the emperor himself, or the emperor can send a courtier to replace him.Naturally, Gu Yuanbai was invigilating the exam by himself, and all the candidates who sat down sat peacefully in their seats, bowing their heads and not saying a word.

The atmosphere in the entire Golden Luan Hall was solemn and silent, and there was still a bit of tension gradually pervading.All the examinees noticed the tall and stern-faced strong guards standing on the two avenues, and the Holy Majesty was sitting on a high position, and no one dared to make a taboo at this time.

The seats in the palace examination are allocated according to the general examination, so the person closest to Gu Yuanbai is Huiyuan Chuwei.

Gu Yuanbai looked around, and there were quite a few familiar people in the first and second rows, besides Chu Wei and Chang Yuyan, there was also Tang Mian, the son of the Minister of the Household Department, Tang Mian had not yet become crowned, but he was able to speak at the meeting. Hubu Shangshu is quite proud of getting a good ranking of No.7 in the exam.

Gu Yuanbai also took a special look at Kong Yilin who was ranked third.Kong Yilin's ancestral home is Qingzhou, Shandong, and Shandong is the hometown of Confucius. There are many talented people there, and it can be said that it is a place where the competition for scholars is quite fierce.In this exam, Kong Yilin was the top ranked student from Shandong.

Kong Yilin was born extremely tall, such a big person shrank behind a small table, making people feel uncomfortable for him.This person is extremely silent, sitting quietly with his head down, his appearance is indistinguishable, he has a calm temperament like an old farmer planting rice seedlings steadily, his presence is weak and ordinary, but he is very stable.

Looking at it this way, Gu Yuanbai had a better impression of Kong Yilin.

The palace examination began, and the test papers were distributed. There was only one strategy question on the top, and candidates had to fill in [-] words.The palace examination will last for one day, and it will end when the sun sets in the evening.

For a while, there was only the sound of pens being drawn across the paper in the hall. Gu Yuanbai sat for a while, and then began to deal with government affairs.

The people sitting in the front all heard the sound of His Majesty opening the papers of the memorial, and many people were thinking about the policy essays while listening to the movement above.

Chu Wei was the first one, and he attracted the most attention. He was very open-minded, and if he couldn't look directly at the holy face, he simply regarded the holy majesty as absent, and concentrated on thinking about this strategy.

He wanted to get the champion from the Holy Master.

After all the candidates got into the mood, Gu Yuanbai put down the memorial and walked slowly among the candidates.

Some people caught a glimpse of the dragon robe on him from the corner of their eyes, and their wrists flicked, and the ink spots stained the draft; some people even kept shaking their legs and feet, and Gu Yuanbai could hear the sound of teeth clinking.

Wherever he walked slowly, the people there were extremely nervous. If it was bad, they would lose people on the spot, and if it was good, their backs would be tensed, and they would be so stiff that they could not write.

The bright yellow dragon robe of the Holy Master gradually moved towards the front row. Chang Yuyan caught a glimpse of the shadow behind him from the corner of his eye, shook his hand, and forcibly calmed down again.

Heart pounding, Chang Yuyan felt in a trance that the Holy Majesty had been by his side for a long time, but when he regained consciousness, the Holy Majesty had already walked to Kong Yilin's place, and finally stood there.

Gu Yuanbai looked down at Kong Yilin's draft, which was neatly written, as clean as an official paper.At first, he only wanted to take a rough look, but gradually, his expression became serious.

When Kong Yilin made the last stroke, Gu Yuanbai came back to his senses. He took a deep look at Kong Yilin with his head down, and stopped walking among the students, but strode up the steps.

This move of the Holy Majesty was noticed by the people around, and many people secretly looked at Kong Yilin.Facing so many gazes, Kong Yilin continued to write the answer as motionless as a mountain.

Chu Wei, who also glanced in Kong Yilin's direction, withdrew his gaze lightly, dipped the tip of his pen in ink, and continued to write.