Shuntianfu is the foot of the Son of Heaven and the first good place, so the first test question of the Shuntianxiang test is the same as the general examination by the emperor.

And Zhili does not let go of the main examination, Baoding, Chengde, Hejian, Tianjin, Yongping, Zhengding, Shunde, Xuanhua, Daming, Guangping Shifu and Zunhua Prefecture, Yizhou, Jizhou, Zhaozhou, Shenzhou, Dingzhou six Zhili Prefecture students want to take the examination, all have to participate in the Shuntian Township Examination, so the Shuntian Township Examination and the Jiangnan Township Examination are called "Nanfu", also known as "Beifu".

Shi Zanqing, the prefect of Tianjin, was extremely poor when he was a child, and his parents left early, and at first he relied on his uncle to sponsor him, and later on his father-in-law. Those who were able to be promoted or even promoted to the rank of jinshi are not only as enthusiastic about donating money as those famous Qing officials through the ages, but also take special care of poor students.

When Han Xiufeng returned to Beijing from Tianjin, he actually asked four poor Xiucai to accompany him, hoping that the four poor Xiucai would at least have a place to stay after arriving in the capital.

Nanyuan was too far away from the Gongyuan, and Han Xiufeng could only ask Xiao Shandong to send the four Xiucai to the Chongqing Hall.

Unexpectedly, I just went to the Old Summer Palace to ask for peace, waited in Jixian Courtyard for a while, confirmed that the emperor was not available to summon him in the past two days, and then returned to the Chongqing Hall to take a look, and found that the champion room behind him was already full of people. Shopkeeper Wen and Shopkeeper can only greet the students who came first, ask them to squeeze in, and the two of them live in one room, so two rooms are vacated.

Ji Yunfei once did a fellow examiner in the Shuntian Township Examination, and he knew very well that he would not be able to choose this time, and maybe there was nothing to do in the Hanlin Academy, so he came to the hall every day to point out the candidates' articles, and he seemed to like this feeling of promoting backwards.

Seeing that Han Xiufeng didn't walk into the flower hall until he finished commenting on a student's article, he couldn't help but laugh and said: "Don't look at me with this kind of look, there are only two students who come to the mansion to borrow money, and most of them are recruited by you, Lord Han!" ”

"If I recruited them, I'll bring four from Tianjin!"

"You still don't believe it, just look at this."

Ji Yunfei took out a few letters from the public box of the incense case, Han Xiufeng took them and looked at them, and immediately had nothing to say.

The first letter was brought by the students who took the examination in Beijing from Zhang Zhidong, who was worried about the township, and the remaining letters were all brought by the gentry and nursery students of Wanping, Gu'an and other counties who were acquainted when they were the same people on the south bank of the Yongding River......

Looking at Han Xiufeng's embarrassed appearance, Ji Yunfei teased again: "The few Nanpi candidates who came with Zhang Zhidong's letter were given room money and tea money. Candidates from Gu'an and Wanping have all the room money and tea money that should be settled. Zhixing, my brother still has to settle accounts, what do these candidates who just came from Tianjin say. ”

"Count me in, okay?" Han Xiufeng put down the letter and said with a smile.

"Shi Zanqing is really generous to others."

"Brother Bowen doesn't know, he is not stingy, nor is he generous to others, but he really has no money."

"Three years of Qing Governor's Mansion, 100,000 snowflakes of silver, he has already become the prefect's lord, you actually said that he has no money!"

"If he were a prefect somewhere else, he wouldn't be so poor. But Tianjin is not another place, not only has it just experienced the war, but in the past few months, the minister of the Qin mission has gone to one after another, and he does not know how much money it will cost to meet the Qin mission, let alone spend money on arranging Tianjin's city defense. ”

"It's so hard?"

Han Xiufeng nodded, and said with a wry smile helplessly: "You must not believe it, he donated all his official income and incorruptible silver, and his wife and children all followed him to drink gruel, and he could only drink two meals a day." I really couldn't stand it, so I specially told Han Chen before I came back, and made some decent meals every two days to send them. ”

"The incorruptible is not subject to the food that comes to him, do you think he will eat it?"

"I don't care about him, he starved because he caused himself, and I explained to Han Chen very clearly before I came back, as long as his wife and children have something to eat."

"It seems that it is not easy to be a clean official."

"So I respect him very much, but it's just respect, and I can't learn from him if I want to."

It is said that thousands of miles are officials only for money, but when it comes to an official like Shi Zanqing, it is really embarrassing, Ji Yunfei didn't want to talk about this topic anymore, put down the teacup and said: "By the way, Fugui just came here and brought me something, he said that he was going back to Beijing with you." ”

"If he's not mistaken, he should be going to see Bochuan now."

"Zhixing, you have been going to Tianjin for such a long time, in my opinion, you should also go to visit the following adults."

Han Xiufeng couldn't hear the meaning of Ji Yunfei's words, and hurriedly said: "You can rest assured, although I haven't moved around much with Bochuan in the past six months, my friendship has not been estranged because of this." ”

Ji Yunfei nodded slightly, thinking about it, he couldn't help but ask: "Zhixing, do you think he can put a chief examiner or deputy examiner this time?" ”

"It's difficult, firstly, he is not qualified enough, and secondly, he has his errands." Because of his background, Han Xiufeng really didn't dare to be interested in these, remembering the purpose of this trip, he put down the teacup and got down to business: "Brother Bowen, just now in Jixian Courtyard, I didn't see Lord Su Shun, but I saw Prince Zheng, chatted with Prince Zheng for a while, and asked about Yonghuan and Jiang Guolin by the way. ”

"What did Prince Zheng say?" Ji Yunfei hurriedly sat up straight.

"Prince Zheng said that the emperor did not listen to and believe partially, how did Yonghuan die, and the emperor had already asked Cao Shuzhong, the political envoy of Guangxi, to find out that Gu played it. Cao Shuzhong once worked as a Sichuan East Road, and temporarily served as an envoy to Sichuan, and I have some friendship with him, so he should be able to help with this favor. But Huang Wanqian can't stay in the capital anymore, and it will only be bad for him to stay in the capital! ”

"Zhixing, you mean Yongzhuan ......"

"You and I just have a plan in our hearts, and the matter has come to this, we can only think of helping him ask for grace behind him."

"How do you know?"

Han Xiufeng looked back behind him and said helplessly: "Jiang Feiyuan, who was ordered by Luo Bingzhang, the governor of Hunan, to lead the brave troops to Guangxi to help suppress the rebellious party, entrusted someone to bring a letter to Han Bo, who served under Hu Linyi, the governor of Hubei, two months ago. ”

"So Lao Chongguang's performance, shouldn't it be fake?" Ji Yunfei asked with a bitter face.

Han Xiufeng nodded helplessly, held the teacup and continued: "As for Jiang Guolin, this official must not be able to do it." Fortunately, the imperial court wants to save face, the emperor will not investigate the matter of Guangzhou, several princes and ministers will not mention it, and even Baigui will not be investigated, so Jiang Guolin's net worth and life should be saved. ”

"Lose your official position and return to your hometown?"

"It's not easy to have this result."

"One finally became a political envoy, and the other finally became a political envoy, but one died...... The death is not clear, one was almost investigated, how could this official become so difficult to do! ”

"You don't have to worry, how noble the Hanlin official is."

"What's the use of Qinggui, don't talk about this, you don't eat here at night, if you don't leave in a hurry, I'll ask Shopkeeper Wen to invite Jiang Haoxuan and them, I haven't been together for a long time, just to catch up."

"Next time, there's still a big deal in Nanyuan, I have to go back quickly."

"Okay, I'll send you."

……

On the fourth day of returning to Nanyuan, the emperor ordered the big head to pass a decree and let Han Xiufeng take his wealth to meet him early the next morning.

Fugui had never seen the emperor, and he was nervous and didn't sleep well all night, so he followed Han Xiufeng to the Qinzheng Hall of the Old Summer Palace, and after kowtowing and replying a few words, the emperor asked him to "kneel down".

Waiting for Fugui to withdraw from the main hall, Xianfeng put down the fold presented by Fugui and said: "I have already said that I am not a mean and ungrateful person, and I should take this grace as soon as I ask for it." ”

"The emperor is benevolent, and the emperor is wise." Han Xiufeng hurriedly said.

"Say something useful!" Xianfeng glared at Han Xiufeng, who looked more and more like Peng Yunzhang, and continued: "Now there is only how to reward the slave of Fugui, although Houyitang has been abolished, you are his superior after all." Whether to let him go back to Fujian, or to reward him for an individual errand, I want to hear your thoughts, after all, you are most familiar with him. ”

"Your Majesty, on the way back to Beijing, the minister asked him what his future plans were."

"What did he say?"

"He said that he was old, and that the PLA foreign cannon had suffered a serious illness on the ship, otherwise he would not have returned to Beijing from Tianjin with his ministers until a few days ago."

"So he was recuperating in Tianjin a few days ago?"

"The Emperor Mingjian." Han Xiufeng paused, and then said: "He told the minister that he wanted to continue to serve the imperial court, but he was afraid that he would have more than enough heart and not enough strength, so he begged the minister several times to ask the emperor to let his second son Jixiang continue to serve the emperor for him." ”

"Jixiang, I actually took this name." Xianfeng muttered, thought about it and asked, "What about his eldest son?" ”

"Your Majesty, his eldest son's name is Ji Lu, who has been on an errand in Houyi Hall before, and is now the director of Nanyuan." Seeing that the emperor was in a good mood, Han Xiufeng lost no time in saying: "He is no stranger to his second son Jixiang, the minister is not only an honest man, but also dedicated to serving the court. Please let Jixiang come to the palace on duty, after all, the big head only has brute strength, and the escort is more than enough, and it is really not good to do anything else. ”

Thinking that every time he asked the big head to pass on the decree, he had to tell him several times, otherwise the big head might really forget, Xianfeng muttered: "Then reward his second son with an auspicious five-grade top belt and learn to walk on the Jingyunmen guards." ”

Appreciating the five-grade top belt is the fourth-class guard, and learning to walk on the Jingyunmen guard is to let Jixiang go to the Wai Gong Office on an errand. Han Xiufeng was taken aback, and hurriedly said: "The rich father and son of the ministers thank the emperor for Longen!" ”

"As long as you do errands with sincerity, I will not hesitate to reward." This is really not a big deal for Xianfeng, and then the conversation changed: "I have seen your excerpt, this errand is well done, I have ordered the monk Greenqin to return to Beijing in a few days, so that it is appropriate to teach face-to-face." ”

"It is a blessing for the minister to be able to share the emperor's worries."

"I know your loyalty, what I want to say is that there are a lot of newspapers in Liangguang and Liangjiang these days, and I have written them for Prince Hui, Prince Yi, Prince Zheng, Su Shun, etc., you have to find Su Shun and look at those excerpts."

"The minister obeys the order, and the minister will go to see Lord Sushun later."