Yan Zhenqing and Duan Xiushi left, not long after, Fengzhou entered the autumn harvest season, the city was suspended, all the soldiers participated in the military field wheat harvest, and the young men and women from Hebin, Yulin, Feng'an and Jiuyuan County were in full swing to harvest wheat.

On this morning, several horseback riders came from Dongcheng in Jiuyuan County, who were fruit farmers sent by Liang Yundao to guide the cultivation of grapes in Fengzhou.

Liang Ling'er had returned to Lingzhou before the locust plague and was sent by his father to Chang'an to learn etiquette.

According to the verbal agreement reached between Guo Song and Liang Yundao, the Liang family will help Fengzhou grow grapes and become an important source of raw materials for the Liang family's wines.

Two months ago, Zhang Lei rushed to Lingzhou from Chang'an, and after tasting the wine of the Liang family, he reached a tripartite joint investment in making Meishou wine in Lingzhou, Zhang Lei and Guo Song each invested 30,000 yuan, each accounting for 30% of the shares, the Liang family is responsible for planting high-quality grapes and making wine, accounting for 4 components, and the sales line is responsible for Meishou wine shop.

The first batch of Meishou wine, about 500 stones, had already set off for the capital before the locust plague broke out, and was personally escorted by Liang Yundao, and Liang Ling'er followed his father to the capital this time.

The four fruit farmers entered the city, inquired all the way, and soon found Guo Song's mansion, and happened to meet Steward Liang at the door, who was very familiar with him, and stepped forward and smiled: "Steward Liang, we haven't seen each other for a long time." ”

"You're Zhang Qu, why are you here?" Steward Liang asked strangely.

"I came to Fengzhou to plant grapes on the order of the head of the family, and I made an appointment with Guo Yuanjun, did you invite him to him?"

Steward Liang probably knew a little bit about it, and said with a smile: "My son-in-law has been busy these days, you come first to rest and eat, and he will come back to see you." ”

He led the people into the house and asked, "It's almost winter, can you grow grapes?" ”

"The main reason for this visit is to look at the soil quality first, find a suitable place to plant grapes and build a garden, we will stay in Fengzhou for a few days at most, and we will rush back, and we will come back tomorrow spring."

........

Guo Song is also very busy these days, the autumn harvest and the imperial examination state examination have met together, other states are held after the autumn harvest is over, but Fengzhou is northern, and the autumn harvest time is half a month later than other states, but the state test time is unified in the Tang Dynasty, so Fengzhou is just the autumn harvest and the state test.

Fortunately, there are only more than 100 scholars who participate in the state examination in Fengzhou, which is not too troublesome, and it is also relatively relaxed, there are two procedures, first in the state examination, the upper test score is qualified, and then an interview is conducted, the interview is mainly a corrective means to prevent cheating in the state examination, as long as you really rely on your own ability to pass the exam, the general interview will pass.

Then wait for the spring of next year to go to Chang'an to participate in the provincial examination.

The state examination was held in a military camp in Jiuyuan County, 164 scholars gathered in two huge tents to participate in the examination, the test papers were transported from Lingzhou, this imperial examination local state examination, Datang set up more than 40 examination centers, Fengzhou belongs to the Yunzhong examination center, the test questions are unified by the Yunzhong examination center, and then sent to the states.

Originally, it was planned to let the candidates concentrate on the unified examination in Lingzhou, but due to the outbreak of the locust plague, a large number of victims poured into Lingzhou, and the examination institute was also occupied by the victims, so it was inconvenient for the candidates to go to Lingzhou, so the examination had to be held in various states, and then the examiners went to each state for interviews.

Generally speaking, most of the scholars in the north choose to take the Ming scriptures, and the scholars in the south choose to take the Jinjing, and the scholars in Fengzhou are all the scholars who are familiar with the scriptures, mainly to read the scriptures well, like writing poems in the Jinshi department, it is not what they are good at, that is generally the children of famous families or the scholars in the Jiangnan area.

The Ming Jing mainly examines the post and the meaning of the scriptures, the so-called scriptures, is to uncover a page of the scriptures, cover the left and right sides, only open a line in the middle, and then cover the three words with the paper paste, so that the test person fills, this kind of topic also has in later generations, but the name is not so literal, it is called "fill in the blank", famous, and the ink meaning is the explanation of the noun, or the understanding of the sentence.

Tijing and Moyi, as long as you are familiar with the scriptures and commentaries, you can take the test, the most people in the Ming Jing subject, most of them can be admitted at a young age, and the Jinshi subject is the most difficult to test, there are many white-haired old people among the candidates, so there has always been a saying of 'thirty old Ming Jing, forty young Jinshi'.

Of course, the treatment is also different, in the Jinshi examination, directly awarded the ninth or eight-grade official, and in the Ming Jing examination, you will go to be a scribe below the ninth grade, in today's words, the Jinshi is admitted, at least the county magistrate at the department level, and in the Ming Jing examination, you will go to be a civil servant, starting from the most basic clerk.

As for the township chief, I'm sorry, the Tang Dynasty court only managed to the county, and the villages below the county level were governed by the gentry.

Only the rustling sound of writing was heard in the big tent, Cao Wannian sat in the last row, because of the special situation, after Guo Song wrote to the imperial court, the Ministry of Rites made an approval, and the scholars in the occupied area could take the exam in any state of the Tang Dynasty.

Guo Song inspected the examination room and went out, there were five invigilators in each of the examination rooms, and one hundred and sixty-four scholars were searched before entering, and the number of people was small, which basically prevented cheating.

Guo Song met the invigilator Du Zongwen outside the examination room, Du Zongwen was Du Fu's eldest son, who was a director in the Ministry of Rites, and he and several colleagues were sent to Yunzhou to supervise the state examination, and they happened to be assigned to Fengzhou.

Du Zongwen's father Du Fu died of illness ten years ago, and his two brothers also died one after another, and only Du Zongwen was the only one who supported his mother Yang.

Although he is the son of Du Fu, he is average in literature, far inferior to his father, but fortunately, the Du family is a famous family, and he was recommended to enter the Ministry of Rites to be a director.

This time he came to Fengzhou to invigilate the exam also he took the initiative to ask, Fengzhou is a frontier, there is a higher subsidy of 300 Wen a day, plus the accommodation is arranged by the local government, this trip to the state test, he can get an additional subsidy of ten yuan, and it is also a lot of income for the family.

"Director Du is still used to it in Fengzhou!"

Du Zongwen nodded and smiled: "It's much better than I imagined, thank you for your kindness." ”

"You're welcome, Director Du is willing to come to Fengzhou with difficult conditions to invigilate, which is very admirable in itself, plus I personally admire Ling Zun's poems, I will treat Director Du well in public and private."

Du Zongwen let out a long sigh, "My father's literature is wonderful, but it's a pity that my son is relatively dull and failed to inherit his talents, and even many of my father's poems have no money to engrave and print, and I see that the paper is moldy, and my son is really incompetent and unfilial." ”

Guo Song was surprised, there was still such a thing, and the poems left by Du Fu could not be engraved and printed?

He hurriedly asked, "How much does it cost to engrave and print?" ”

"It takes 300 yuan to engrave the board, and then it costs the same amount of money to print a volume, mainly because it is expensive to paste it manually, if you print 100 volumes, it will be cheaper, and it will be cheaper to print 1,000 volumes, but it will also cost 500 yuan, and I really can't take it out."

Guo Song nodded, "I will bear the money for the engraving printing of Lingzun Shiwen, I will write you a letter back, you take the letter to the Meishou Wine Shop in Xishi to find Zhang Dongzhu, how much money is needed for him to spend, print a thousand volumes first, if it is not enough to print again, all the printing expenses will be borne by me." ”

Du Zongwen was stunned, and then stammered: "This.... How embarrassing is that. ”

Guo Song said lightly: "I'm printing a collection of poems for Du Gongbu, it has nothing to do with you, if it is a poem written by yourself, I won't give a penny, do you understand?" ”

Du Zongwen was silent, of course he understood that Guo Song was giving face to his father and had nothing to do with him, he sighed and said: "No matter what, I am still very grateful to Guo Yuanjun for his help!" ”

........

The printing of Du Fu's poetry collection was just a small episode for Guo Song, which he quickly forgot in this busy season, but it was an unforgettable event for Du Zongwen, and the big stone that had been pressing on his heart for ten years finally landed, and he got the letter written by Guo Song, and he couldn't sleep all night.

At noon, Guo Song received a message from Liang's housekeeper that the person sent by the Liang Mansion in Lingzhou to plant grapes arrived.

This was something that Guo Song had been looking forward to for a long time, he had lunch in a hurry at the official office, and then rushed back to the mansion.

Soon, Guo Song saw four grape growers in the mansion, all of whom were thirty or forty years old, and Steward Liang introduced Guo Song with a smile: "The head is named Zhang Qu, who is the steward of Liang's vineyard, and is also famous for growing grapes in Lingzhou, followed by his three brothers, Zhang Er, Zhang San, and Zhang Si. ”

The four of them knelt down to salute Guo Song, Guo Song hurriedly asked them to get up and smiled: "It's hard work, I thought you would come over next spring, but I didn't expect to come now." ”

Zhang Qu bowed and said: "We are mainly looking at the water and soil conditions now, looking for a suitable land for growing grapes, and we will bring seeds over in the spring of next year, and then we will start to officially plant grapes." ”

"You've come all the way, do you think the soil in Toyosu is suitable for growing grapes?" Guo Song asked again.

"There is no problem at all, the soil of Fengzhou is the same as that of Lingzhou, and there is enough sunlight during the day, a large temperature difference between day and night, and sufficient water sources, which are the conditions for producing high-quality grapes, and we are confident that we can grow the best grapes."

Guo Song nodded, "There is a lot of land in Fengzhou, but I suggest that it is best to investigate near Jiuyuan County, mainly because of the convenience of labor." ”

"The villain understands that we will go out of the city in a while, and look to the east, and find a land that is more suitable for growing grapes."

Guo Song said happily: "I will arrange a guide, and the food and accommodation will be in my house for the next few days, and I will have a heavy reward after the end." ”

The four of them were overjoyed, bowed down together and said, "Thank you!" ”