There are more than ten days to go before the Chinese New Year, and a large number of candidates for the exam are pouring into Beijing, and for them, the biggest and most important problem to solve is accommodation.

Although there are guild halls in every province, they can't accommodate so many people, and besides, everyone is a person, who doesn't bring a few retinues and scholars.

At the beginning of December, the halls were already overcrowded, and the rest of the people either went to inns or rented houses.

You must know how many innkeepers are looking forward to this day, once every three years, they have already sharpened their knives and are ready to go, and even the firewood room has been vacated.

Renting a private house is the most cost-effective, three or four fellow villagers raise people to rent in partnership, plus entourage, scholars, although a little crowded, but cost-effective.

The second is the high consumption, there are two months before the test, the price in the capital is already high, and the price has risen in a wave at the end of the year.

Many people pinched their fingers and calculated, and had to wonder where to go for odd jobs, and of course, more often to borrow some money from fellow township officials.

For example, Zhang Juzheng was already complaining in front of Qian Yuan, leading his wife and son to go directly to the door to eat and hide from others.

However, among the scholars who entered Beijing, there was a wave of people who were special, that is, the southeast scholars, this time, among the scholars who entered Beijing two months in advance, the southeastern people were the most.

Qian Yuan once asked about this matter in a gathering with Chen Younian, Zhu Dashou and others, and the answer he got was......

Nanren are afraid of cold and need to enter Beijing in advance to adapt to the environment...... This is nonsense, Guangdong and Hainan people are more afraid of the cold.

In fact, the southeast is rich, and most of the scholars who go to Beijing to take the exam are wealthy, and they are often intertwined in Beijing, so they have already arranged accommodation.

Chen Younian's father was a Jinshi in the Zhengde period, and his uncle was a Jinshi in the eleventh year of Jiajing.

The most important thing is that although the New Year is approaching, they are afraid that the Japanese will make trouble after the New Year, and when the time comes, they will block the road or even cut off the canal, which will be a big trouble.

"The big bands of pirates have rarely come ashore anymore, and they are all small bands of pirates." Zhu Dashou shook his head and said: "Just half a month ago, a group of Japanese robbers hid in Taihu Lake, raided Changzhou, entered the Yangtze River to peep into the Zhenjiang River, and almost cut off the canal. ”

Qian Yuan was also helpless, although the overall situation was gradually improving...... Of course, behind this turnaround is that Wang Zhi and Xu Hai are fighting at sea in full swing, but it is really difficult to avoid the invasion of small groups of Japanese pirates, and it is impossible for civil and military officials in various places to focus all their energy on this.

"Fortunately, now the new commander of Caojiang led his troops to attack and break the enemy in one fell swoop." Chen Younian said worriedly: "Mr. Liangqing wrote that Wen Chang has already left for Beijing, maybe he just happened to meet. ”

"Good people don't live long, and the scourge lasts for a thousand years." Qian Yuan said with a smile, "Where is Wen Chang so easy to die!" ”

Everyone stared at Qian Yuan with a smile, how can you have the face to say this...... A few months ago, he almost scolded Xu Wei to death.

Qian Yuan laughed dryly, "Again?" ”

"Zhancai is now a rich man, and he doesn't eat for nothing." Sun Ling, who finally came over today to join in the fun, yelled at Yang Wen on the side, "More beef slices, and some egg skin dumplings." ”

Sun Yan smiled helplessly, and said angrily: "I'm not afraid to hold on." ”

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid!"

A few days ago, Chen Younian and Zhu Dashou entered Beijing, and held a banquet in the Zhejiang Hall to invite fellow villagers in Shaoxing to a banquet, and also brought Qian Yuan, who had been studying hard and bored since Qian Zheng entered Beijing.

Today, Qian Yuan set up a big hot pot in his yard to invite back, in addition to Chen Younian and Zhu Dashou, he also invited Sun Yan and Sun Ling, two brothers, and everyone at the table was for the exam, but they didn't talk about the eight shares, but talked about the southeast war situation.

Qian Yuan pondered in his heart, the invasion of a small group of Japanese pirates is really unavoidable, Li Mo wrote a letter to impeach Hu Zongxian a few days ago to suppress the Japanese is unfavorable, but yesterday came a war report, Hu Zongxian in Shaoxing Huiji broke the Japanese pirates, beheaded 500, burned dozens of ships, and Emperor Jiajing turned his anger into joy.

"Shaoxing victory, this is true." Chen Younian nodded and said: "But it is also very dangerous, if it weren't for the fact that the governor personally led the troops to help, and the warden Wu Chengqi held the city, I was afraid that Huiji County would be slaughtered by the Japanese invaders." ”

Qian Yuan raised his glass and said with a smile: "Hu Ruzhen personally took the risk, fortunately Shaoxing won a great victory, although the southeast was invaded by many Japanese invaders, but the situation is gradually improving, and I hope that all the gentlemen will go to high school in one fell swoop and contribute to the township." ”

Everyone raised their glasses and drank them all, but Sun Ling put down his glass, shook his head and said, "As the governor of the six provinces, it is really not a wise move to take risks in person. ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone turned their heads to look at Qian Yuan, they all had self-knowledge, and it was difficult to compare with Qian Yuan in this regard.

"It's a last resort to take the risk yourself." Qian Yuan explained in detail: "Although there are famous generals such as Yu Dayou, Lu Bo, and Tang Kekuan, the soldiers of the Southeast Guard Station are really useless, and the guest soldiers transferred are not adaptable, and even fight with each other for food, and Yang Yi was imprisoned for this. ”

"Although the wolf soldiers in Tianzhou are brave and good at fighting, but the strength is insufficient, this year the southeast officially implemented the recruitment system, but the recruits are not immediately able to go to the battlefield, at least about a year of training."

Sun Ling, who was anxious, blurted out and asked, "When will it be?" ”

Qian Yuan lowered his eyes slightly, "Then it depends on how much silver Hu Ruzhen has in his hand." ”

Everyone was speechless, they also knew that recruiting and training soldiers cost money, but if Xu Wei was there, they would definitely be able to hear the meaning of Qian Yuan's words...... To see how much silver Hu Ruzhen has in his hands, it actually depends on when Hu Ruzhen will implement the compilation law to the provinces.

Qian Yuan didn't want to talk about this anymore, and said deeply, not only to mention the compilation law, but also to talk about tax reform, there are too many sensitive places, he smiled and pointed to the side room, "Do you want to have another game?" ”

"There are exactly five people, four people are in battle, whoever loses will come down."

"I still have to prepare for the exam."

"Brother, after all these years of hard study, I have already become a bamboo in my chest, what is the use of holding Buddha's feet temporarily?"

"Let's do it, come four times, just four circles, not much!"

Everyone responded in an uproar, all of them were gearing up, and Sun Yan, who had always been steady, was teaching his younger brother a lesson, and his plaything was demoralized...... So the elder brother goes first, and the younger brother you wait.

Qian Yuan regretted it a little, and brought mahjong to the Zhejiang Hall that day...... said that after playing two rounds, I learned from Shiwen, and as a result, I played a full ten rounds, and now the Zhejiang Hall is about to become a mahjong hall!

But when he got to the table, Qian Yuan didn't care about it, concentrated and went all out!

"Self-touching, thirteen don't rely on!"

"Zhancai, can you Hu with this kind of card?"

"yes, I've been confused all the time, and I'm still guessing what kind of nonsense you have?"

A series of complaints made Qian Yuan not notice...... Uncle Qian Zheng appeared quietly at the door.

After a while, Sun Ling, who was facing the door, got up suddenly, and kicked Qian Yuan on the side with a dry smile.

"Uncle......" Qian Yuan wanted to smile, but he didn't dare to laugh, his face was distorted.

Qian Zheng didn't reprimand his nephew in front of outsiders, he just pulled his face out of the way, and a young eunuch walked into the room.

"Your Majesty summons you, enter the West Garden immediately."

The room was so quiet that even a needle could be heard on the ground, and the brothers Sun Yan and Sun Ling were not too surprised, everyone in the capital knew that Qian Yuanjian was in the emperor's heart, and Zhu Dashou and Chen Younian looked at the eunuch whose hat was still stained with snow in amazement.

"Mr. Qian, please." The young eunuch had a good attitude, looked at the table with a smile, and said with a smile: "This is mahjong, it's spread in the palace." ”

At this moment, Qian Zheng's face became even darker.