With the imperial court moved south, Yang Tong built Yecheng became one of the capitals, although the business is not as prosperous as before, but its population is as high as one million, so it is only the luxury industry that is affected, for ordinary people, the impact is not great, on the contrary, with the large departure of court officials and the army, the price is much lower than before, which is far more real than the people of the imperial capital.

In a private room on the third floor, more than a dozen young scholars had just participated in the scientific expedition and gathered to drink.

"I really don't know what Li Yuan thinks, knowing that he is not the opponent of the Great Sui, but he is still resisting to the end, everyone says, is this person too stupid?" A gentleman said with a smile.

"Brother Zhang, this is your lack of realm, your life is short for decades, who doesn't want to be an emperor and enjoy the taste of commanding the world? Otherwise, Yu Wenhua would not have killed the puppet to establish the Xu Dynasty knowing that he would perish. What's more, Li Yuan has been the emperor for so many years and enjoys all the glory and wealth, if you let him step down from the emperor's position and go to Luoyang to be a prisoner who can't be the master of life and death, can he do it? If I have the opportunity, I will also be the emperor, and the three palaces and six courts will always be with me, wouldn't it be happy? ”

Everyone laughed, and one said: "Brother Zhou, why don't you wrap up Tianxianglou tomorrow and let the women inside come to serve you, not only have three palaces and six courtyards, but also seventy-two concubines!" It depends on whether your small body can hold up. ”

"Go! Go! Go! How can those broken flowers and willows be compared to the beauties in the palace? ”

At this moment, a young man with a black face coughed lightly, and everyone suddenly fell silent and turned their heads to look at him together.

This person is Ma Zhou, who went to Luoyang to deliver a letter, Yang Tong admired his talent and asked him to be his own reporter, but this guy was arrogant and didn't want to go through the back door, so he decided to pass the imperial examination and enter the court as an official. Yang Tong also knows that this kind of demon has its own backbone, just like Du Ruhui at the beginning, knowing that Yang Tong was looking for him, didn't he also win the championship?

Ma Zhou said: "Although I have freedom of speech in the Great Sui Dynasty, it is best not to make some jokes, let alone take the royal family, this is the least way to be a person and a way to serve the people." ”

In these years, through Yang Tong's planning and conquest, he has opened up a prestige for the Great Sui Dynasty and pointed out a bright road for the development of the Great Sui civilization. This made people with lofty ideals who were born with him in the same era have a sense of historical responsibility and are proud of themselves and the great Sui Dynasty.

It can be said that the existence of Yang Dong has made the Great Sui prestige in the world, in just a few years, the Great Sui has become the existence of any country and power, and at the same time, the papermaking, printing, library, four schools of the Great Sui, compulsory education and other measures in his hands have allowed the majority of Han scholars to get endless benefits, and his bloody suppression of the family gate valve, equal distribution of fields, apportionment into acres and other systems, more than ordinary people to provide living security, if not Yang Dong, how can they be qualified to talk here?

Although Yang Tong did not engage in a personality cult, the glorious image of Emperor Shengwu was mighty, wise, broad and majestic, but it was deeply engraved in the hearts of every Han scholar.

Although Yang Tong did not preach to the people of the world to be loyal to him, the effect obtained through real actions is actually the same.

These scholars have no words, even if the court doesn't care, but if others listen to it, I am afraid that after going out, they will be killed by the people of Yecheng, who have gathered refugees, disaster victims, and displaced people into millions of big cities, so Ma Zhou is good for them, so he reminded them loudly.

"It was me who was wrong!"

Fang Cai joked about the scholars, with a look of shame on his face, stood up, and bowed to the south solemnly.

"Brothers, I got a piece of news, in addition to the imperial examination in February, there will be an additional 'Enke' in the autumn."

Without waiting for everyone to cheer, Ma Zhou said: "It is said that in the autumn, Enke will lift the ban on literati under the age of fifty, and when the time comes, there will be several times or more than ten times more people to sign up to participate, these literati who are older than us have read books for several years or decades more than us, and their experience, vision and insight are beyond the reach of young literati, so the pressure on young literati is extremely heavy, and it is already quite remarkable to be able to win five seats out of a hundred." ”

Everyone was silent, among their peers, they didn't have much chance of winning, how could they compete with the older generation?

The student surnamed Zhang asked: "In order to prevent someone from studying for the exam, the saint did not pass the exam until the day he died, but he destroyed a family, so there is an age limit." But this Enke does not impose a ban, but why? Isn't the saint worried that someone will say that he will go back on his word and change his order? ”

"The so-called 'Enke' is a temporary additional scientific examination, and the normal scientific examination is carried out as usual, but for young literati, it has one more chance, so there is no such thing as going back on its word and changing its order overnight."

"According to the regulations of the school, the imperial examination is an examination every three years, but in fact, it is an examination every year, and this year it is three examinations a year, why is this? Please also ask Brother Ma to solve his doubts. ”

"That's understandable!" Ma Zhou drank the wine in his cup and said with a smile: "My ten major legions of the Great Sui are all heroes of a hundred battles; And Du Fuwei's 11th Army is slightly weaker, but it is also a brave man who has survived the baptism of war again and again, after getting the support of the imperial court's war horses, equipment, money and food, but also because there are no worries, Du Fuwei can rest assured and boldly to fight, it is not an exaggeration to say that the combat power of the 11th Army has doubled, and it is not an exaggeration to say that the combat power of the 11th Army has doubled. ”

"I think the saint is preparing to launch a war of belonging to the world, and it is estimated that it will be fought until reunification, so that there are many counties and counties that need officials to take office, but the saint is unwilling to appoint the children of the family, so this year the department is opened three times, the purpose is to prepare officials for the counties that are about to be recovered, as long as they pass the examination, it will definitely be no problem to be a county-level chief official and adjutant officer."

Ma Zhou's words made everyone very moved, who doesn't want to be a county official who governs one side? Being an emperor is a joke, but being a county official in a place far away from the emperor of the mountain is what is the difference between him and the emperor of the soil?

At this time, a scholar asked, "Brother Ma thinks that the Holy Lord will hit Li Mi or Li Yuan first?" ”

"When the Holy Lord fought extraterritorially, he was extremely bold in using troops, but when he turned to the country, he was quite steady, and it is really hard to say who he wants to fight; However, after the expansion of the army, my Great Sui has millions of soldiers. It is also possible to start a war against Li Yuan, Li Mi, and Lin Shihong at the same time. Ma Zhou pondered for a moment, and then said: "The supply of the army is a heavy burden, so the establishment of a million army cannot be held for a long time. The sooner the war ended, the sooner the imperial court could dismantle the temporarily expanded army, and the financial pressure would be one day less. I think this should be a quick and decisive war, which is also in line with the Shengshang's style of employing troops like the wind, its swiftness like a forest, its invasion like fire, and its immobility like a mountain'. ”

A scholar said with a smile: "In other words, the Holy Lord urgently needs a large number of alternate officials to enter the court for training, and we are still very hopeful." ”

"That's right. Even if we don't win this time, we still have two chances this year, and after the party, the younger brother decided to return to Tsinghua Academy to study behind closed doors. ”

"Once the world is unified and the number of positions at all levels is full, the Holy Lord will definitely not take the exam three times." Ma Zhou said with a smile: "In the future, the imperial examination must be held every three years, the age limit will be implemented as scheduled, and the recruitment conditions will be higher than now, and Enke will not have any more." So the past two years are the two years that we hope for the most, if we fail the test, it will be difficult to climb to the sky in the future, and once the years have passed, we can only go home to farm. ”

The crowd agreed.

。。。。。。。。。

Not far from the private room where the scholars gathered, there was a middle-aged man sitting alone in a private room, drinking sullen wine uncertainly, and sighing from time to time one or two.

At this time, the door was pushed open, and a tall, dignified young man walked in, his name is Li Zhi, is the eldest grandson of Zhongshu Ling and Li Jing, the prince of Huaguo, although his background is extraordinary, but Li Zhi did not rely on his grandfather Yu Yin to enter the officialdom of the Great Sui, but hid his background, starting from an ordinary scout, because of his outstanding martial arts, shrewdness and ability, he was successively selected into the Xiaoguo Army and the Xuanjia Army, until he was promoted to the general of Yingyang Lang, Yang Tong knew that he was the eldest grandson of Li Jing, because he was shrewd and capable, and his mind was flexible, so he was transferred to Yecheng, Responsible for investigating the Wheel Teaching.

Seeing Yang Zhi walk in, the middle-aged man in the room hurriedly got up and saluted, Li Zhi pressed his shoulder and said, "This is not polite, sit down!" ”

The middle-aged man sat down involuntarily, he shivered and picked up the wine jug, and filled Li Zhi with a glass of wine.

Li Zhi bowed his head slightly to show his gratitude, but he didn't drink, but looked at him with sharp eyes and asked, "Have you heard the news I want?" ”

The middle-aged man nodded, and said very nervously: "I, I want fifty this time, no, I want thirty gold coins." ”

"Thirty gold coins, that is, thirty taels of gold, you are very greedy. But I'm not a stingy person, and as long as your information is worth the price, I'll give it away; If you have more core confidential information, it doesn't hurt to give you a hundred gold coins. ”

"I, I don't want to do it, I'm here to tell you the biggest secret of the Wheel Sect."

"Why don't you want to do it?" Li Zhi looked at him strangely and asked with a smile, "Don't you want more rewards?" ”

"It's not that I don't want money, I'm really scared."

After a while, the middle-aged man said the reason: "The Li Shopkeeper of the Wannian Sprinkle Workshop in Wudi County, Bohai County, is the big leader of the Wheel Sect, he fell into the latrine drunk on Chinese New Year's Eve and drowned, but I know that he was killed because he is the person in charge of liaison and knows too many secrets, so the sect leader can't tolerate him; I'm the same, I feel like I'm going to die next. ”

The middle-aged man took out a thick booklet from his bosom and said softly: "Everything you want to know is here, I have already told you all their most important secrets, and there is no other information." I think this information is worth at least five hundred gold coins, but I only need thirty, which is cheap for you. ”

Li Zhi opened the booklet and read it roughly, his eyes lit up, this is indeed extremely important core information, quickly closed the booklet, and took out thirty gold coins and put them on the table, the middle-aged man was about to reach out to take it, but Li Zhi held his hand, stared at him sharply, and said coldly: "I said ugly things ahead, if you provide false information and mislead me for a big matter, then you are not so comfortable as flooding the latrine." ”

"Although I don't know who you are, I know that you are more ruthless than the Wheel Sect, I am just a seller of intelligence, and I dare not provoke the rest."

"If you know, it's good." As soon as Li Zhi's hand was released, the middle-aged man snatched the gold coin, hurriedly stuffed it into his pocket, grabbed the wine jug on the table and drank it bitterly, and then left in a hurry, without even saying hello, obviously afraid to the extreme.

Li Zhi immediately paid for the wine and left the winery

Half an hour later, Li Zhi came to an inn in Nanshi, since Yang Tong knew the existence of the Wheel Sect, he asked Li Zhi to go north to investigate, Li Zhi did not contact the local officials in order to avoid startling the snake, but bought this inn with poor business to house intelligence personnel, at the same time, it was also to paralyze the intelligence traffickers, if the identity of the Great Sui officials was revealed, I am afraid that the intelligence traffickers would be scared away. The middle-aged man just now thought that Li Zhi was a force other than the Great Sui, so he dared to accept his gold coins, otherwise he would have been frightened.

Li Zhi walked all the way to the attic at the back of the inn before pushing the door in.

The light inside was bright, and there was a scribe about thirty years old standing in front of the window with his hands in his hands, he was wearing a white Confucian robe, with three wisps of green beard, looking very elegant, and he looked like a candidate for scientific examinations. But in fact, he was Ling Jing, the Shangshu of the Great Sui Shang Department, who was ordered by Yang Dong to come to solve the internal trouble of the Wheel Sect, so as not to catch fire in the backyard when fighting in the front.

"What, do you have any information?" Ling Jing asked with concern.

Li Zhi took out the booklet and handed it to Ling Jing, and said with a smile: "It's even better than expected!" ”

Ling Jing looked at it carefully, and there was joy in his eyes, "This information is too important, we must report it to the Holy Lord immediately." Where are your letter eagles? ”

Li Zhi said respectfully: "Back to Shangshu, Xinying is in the backyard, you can write the information and hand it over to the last general." ”

"Okay!" Ling Jing hurriedly wrote down a simple piece of information, and after handing it to Li Zhi, he instructed again: "I am going to Nanpi County, Bohai Haipi County, please send this letter to the general immediately, and in addition, send someone to Luoyang to hand over this booklet to the saint." ”

Li Zhi pondered for a moment, and then said, "It's difficult for others to see the saint, so let's run away!" ”

Ling Jing nodded, "This couldn't be better, you have been here for half a year, and you know more than anyone else, it is estimated that the Holy Lord will ask you some details." ”

"Ling Shangshu, when will the last general leave?"

"Now that the war is imminent, the focus of the court is on the big war, and there is no time and energy to pay attention to this wheel of religion, so this unstable internal trouble must be solved before the army sets out. Lest you lose the opportunity, go south now! ”

"The last general will arrange for someone to contact Shangshu."