Future library

There was the sound of brushes all around. Tens of thousands of people were writing with brushes at the same time. It was also a very spectacular thing. The rows of exam rooms were like neat public toilets. Everyone suppressed their blushes. With his eyes widened, he tried hard to pour things out, hoping to release everything alive in his stomach.

The academic officers on inspection walked with their hands behind their backs, guarded by two or three soldiers, looking around boredly while recalling the glorious past. Occasionally I see students behind the wooden boards with blank faces, and I think half dissatisfied and half proud: I remember back then...

Among the various officials in the imperial court, the one with the highest average "educational qualifications", except for the bachelors of the palace, must be the Ministry of Rites. Because of this, although the Ministry of Rites does not have much power among the six departments and three departments, the promotion of its officials is not at all. slow. Since normal central officials must be selected through the imperial examination, the shape of the pyramid in the Great Xia Dynasty is quite rugged, but it is also very comfortable to stand on the 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 2,000 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 officialdom had not yet collapsed, the entire country was still firmly in the hands of the civil service group 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 in selection.

Cheng Jinzhou unfolded the paper from left to right, gently pressed it with a paperweight, rubbed the paper with his hands first, and then looked at the questions.

The paper is made of fine jute paper, which is considered the best among ordinary papers. Except for the areas around the capital, it must have only been found in Quanzhou and other places where maritime merchants gathered.

When he saw the title, Cheng Jinzhou was suddenly surprised. It turned out to be "The way of civil and military affairs, to control the army." The subsequent explanation made Cheng Jinzhou even more suspicious: For the past few years, the invaders from the north have invaded our Xia Kingdom. If they walked into an uninhabited country, they would harm our heavenly people like never before. This is because I have established the foundation of morality in the middle, so that education cannot be practiced outside. ...Now that I want to seek long-term peace and stability, I can't do anything about it. If you want to keep it, how should you use it to make it last as 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 Cheng Jinzhou saw the title of this article, his first reaction was: Is there going to be a war?

It was because of his outstanding performance as the garrison envoy of Longdong that Liu Bin was transferred to the position of transit envoy. The transfer of ministers who are good at border affairs back to the interior shows that the northern captives are not strong. The topic of "controlling the army" at this moment seems to indicate that the imperial court has a desire to actively expand outward. In this era, there was Daliang to the north of Daxia, Northern Han Dynasty to the west, Daxia to the southeast, and Jingnan Dynasty below. Except for the latter, they were all strong rivals. As for other countries farther away, although there was no direct conflict of interest, they Beware of the war potential of the Star Warlocks.

Under such circumstances, Daxia has not fought a large-scale war for thirty or forty years. The domestic Emperor Lizong was determined to reform. Cheng Jinzhou used the knowledge he had learned over the past few months to think about it and could not find any reason for war.

"What a strange question." Cheng Jinzhou shook his head and muttered to himself.

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

The imperial examination is not simply about performing literary talents. Although people imagine that it can be like this, in fact, the candidates have to figure out the examiner's mind, the examiners have to figure out the examiner's mind, and the examiner has to figure out the court's mind... This is basically It will be even more difficult to pass the intellectual quizzes based on literature if you cannot clearly see the movements of the court and understand the deeper meaning of the questions.

Cheng Jinzhou's daily accumulation was not enough to understand the mystery, and he himself was not able to just follow the topic and discuss the matter. He simply opened the provincial examination records in the ring and thought: People say that there will be a change in 50 years, so I just looked at the records from 50 years ago. How did the scholars answer the questions?

…

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

Ever since he ruined the reputation of Cheng Bingxun and his son, he could no longer stay in Shaonan City. Cheng Jinzhou sent him to the capital, and a dozen of his men were all sent to sea ships. They 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 that he was quite happy to be able to come to the prosperous place in the capital. The only regret is that after coming to Xia Jing, he had nothing to do except wandering on the dock every day. Instead, he took in a dozen more younger brothers. A group of rogues, coupled with the connection of nobles behind them, it is quite pleasant to pretend to be powerful.

The West Pier is a shipping terminal, and local gangs have occupied the territory for a long time. Chen Jie, who was new here, didn't dare to find trouble, so he took a dozen people with him to do some work to help people negotiate, and contacted them from time to time. I would go to the local church, and at the beginning of each month, I would go to Cross Street to collect some expenses, and my life would be considered smooth.

A gust of sea breeze blew, and the sound of "Hey, hey, hey, you" came. Chen Jie turned his head, looked at the tall sailboat and said: "If one day, there is a boat, I will really have no worries about food 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.”

"You have to worry too much." Of course someone else retorted: "Don't those ship owners also sleep on the shore every day? Those with land sleep with their wives, those with ships sleep with women, and those with nothing have to sleep with others..."

"I think you're just ready to sell your ass..." Life on the dock has always been rough, and they don't get angry even when scolding each other.

Chen Jie doesn't like this kind of atmosphere very much. He received a basic education in the Cheng family and worked as a steward. He calls himself a semi-scholar, but in the current environment, everything is on the plate. How can he choose? Picking and choosing, I just want to find some profitable business first, and then find a way to move up.

Seeing the boss' impatient expression, the few people following him also stopped knowingly. Someone started a new topic: "Boss, that Mr. Cheng, has really become a second-level star warlock?"

"He is a two-star warlock. He has no knowledge or skills. You two, Ada and Amao, I think you are A Cat and A Dog." Chen Jie pointed at the two people following him and cursed, but a smile appeared on his face. He considered himself to have a prosperous relationship with Cheng Jinzhou, and the title of two-star warlock was almost a stimulant.

As soon as he finished speaking, Amao slapped his forehead hard and said: "I said the two-star warlock is so familiar. I heard someone mention it today."

"Who mentioned it?" Chen Jie asked immediately. The dozen or so people he collected were like fleas lying on rotten leaves. They were completely unaware of things other than the leaves, but there was no movement at all on the leaves. Will not be missed. They can survive in the cracks between local gangs, the government and wealthy businessmen, and their income is informed money.

"The youngest of the Dao Gang, he was sleeping in the hook fence this morning. He was pulled out from under the quilt. He was very noisy. Later, someone said something about a two-star warlock, so he followed." Amao said in front of the new news, Seeing Chen Jie's serious face, he knew something was fishy, ​​so he quickly added: "There are seven or eight families in the maritime trade that transport food. It is said that the youngest of the Dao Gang can kill ten of them at one time. When fighting, he always Rushing to the front, if the Dao Gang does anything to behead people, he will definitely be indispensable."

"It's always the women who do the bad 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 is any leftover food cooked for the guests in Goulan Courtyard the day before the next morning, it will be eaten by the people who come to eat it. Of course, the people mentioned here, beggars, etc. are not included. Most of them are rogue men, and some It means not paying for peace.

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 take the money, he suddenly withdrew his hand and said in a cold voice: "Brothers, it's up to you whether you want to eat chaanyan vegetables or not. If you dare to miss the opportunity, I won't be the only one to kill you." ”

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.

…