When I returned to my residence, the light was on in the study, and Jiang Anyi entered the door to see that Master Fan was talking with Tian Shoulou.

Hearing the sound, Fan Shiben raised his head, messed up the chess game with his hand, and said with a smile: "Why did An Yi come back now, Master Tian has been waiting for you for a day." ”

Tian Shoulou stood up, bowed and saluted: "Shoulou has seen the lord." ”

I haven't seen him for three years, Tian Shoulou's bearing is very different, the original pale and thin cheeks have become ruddy and shiny, the three strands of ink beard that have been carefully stored look elegant and calm, the clothes seem to be simple but very suitable, and you will find that the workmanship is delicate and exquisite, from the craftsmanship of Yixiang Hengbu Village, and the price of this set of caftan will be ten taels.

In the past three years, Tian Shoulou has done his best, and three letters a month have never stopped, and no matter how big or small things in Beijing are useful or useless, Jiang Anyi is very sure of Tian Shoulou's deeds.

Fan Shiben knew that Tian Shoulou had something to talk to Jiang Anyi, so he stood up and said, "Anyi, Brother Shoulou, you talk, I'll go back to the back house." By the way, Anyi, there was a guest in the Li Mansion, and you asked him to come, and I asked him to stay in the front yard, and he was working with Zhichang at the moment. By the way, there are a lot of candidates who came to work on the papers today, and I put them all on my desk. ”

"Yes, it's Tong'er's brother Li Dongsheng, who also participated in the exam, and I asked him to be a companion with Zhichang." Jiang Anyi responded, "You tell Zhichang that today's speech will be later." ”

Fan Shiben nodded and went out, Jiang Anyi asked Tian Shoulou to sit down and listen to him tell what happened in Beijing. Although Tian Shoulou is well-informed, his level is much lower than Yu Zhijie, and there are many things in the streets and alleys that talk about catching wind and shadows, but Jiang Anyi listens carefully, and there may not be no reason for the groundless, and some seemingly nonsense talks hide deep meanings, which are worth thinking about carefully. Looking at things from the subtleties is the skill that Jiang Anyi learned from Zhang Keji, which has benefited him a lot, and he has an accurate vision when looking at problems, which makes Fang Shishu very impressed.

High-level officials like Yu Zhijie knew that there would be big changes in the court, and in the eyes of low-level officials like Tian Shoulou, the biggest thing in Beijing was the upcoming examination.

The more Jiang Anyi listened, the more frowning his brows became, nine years ago, when he took the examination, he also heard rumors that the powerful family secretly controlled the imperial examination, but he was the top student in high school, and in addition to him, there were Wei Youcheng and Zhang Zhicheng, all of whom had real learning, and among the first people were Liu Yushan of Zechang Academy, Lin Yizhen and Yu Mingde, as well as Fan Shiben, all of whom were outstanding in learning, so they didn't pay attention to the rumors.

Listening to Tian Shoulou's eloquent speech, Jiang Anyi couldn't help asking: "Shoulou, you said that the crown prince, King Chu'an, and many powerful people in Beijing all interfered in the imperial examination, is there any evidence?" When I took the entrance examination, I also heard that some people were doing tricks in the examination, and it seemed that there was no big problem from the list of the first ranks, and most of the people I knew who were good at the top were really talented and learned. ”

Tian Shoulou said with a smile: "The lord is the champion of Fengle for nine years, and there are three hundred and sixteen scholars, and there are rumors afterwards that at least sixty or seventy Jinshi are connected with each other. ”

"How is that possible?" Jiang Anyi exclaimed, shaking his head again and again in disbelief.

Tian Shoulou said with a smile: "The lord has less time in Beijing, Tian has been on an errand in the Ministry of Rites for more than 20 years, so he naturally knows these insiders, and the gold list of the lord that year is relatively fair, because the deputy chief examiner is Duan Cizong Duan

He is impartial and selfless, and the places he takes are relatively fair, while Chief Examiner Li and other fellow examiners have a lot of places. As far as I know, the ten families divided the thirty places, the princes and nobles brought thirty people, and the remaining at least twenty or thirty people were admitted through the examination of Lord Li and the same examiner. About half of the examinations were secretly separated, which was almost the practice of the imperial examinations. ”

"Aren't you afraid that the Son of Heaven will find out?"

"In most cases, the Son of Heaven will only review the top ten examination papers of the palace examination, as long as these ten people do not fake, it will be difficult for the Son of Heaven to find out."

"How so?" Jiang Anyi sighed. remembered that when he was in Huazhou Township Examination, he also asked Liu Yixing to win the middle school for personal gain, Liu Yixing is indeed talented, but his fate is not good, and Jiang Anyi is not without guilt for the sake of Liu Yixing, but for Liu Yixing to take the middle school, he acquiesced to Qiu Anqing's entrainment. Later, he talked to Fang Shishu in private, and Fang Beijia also sighed that every imperial examination has favoritism, and it is worthy of his heart to be able to win six or seven percent of the real talents.

Tian Shoulou took a sip of tea, which made Jiang Anyi calm down from the shock, and then continued: "When the lord enters Beijing for the Hajj, it is best to have less contact with Huazhou to avoid gossip. Especially that mad horse Yuanxiang, who has a reputation in Beijing, I heard that someone said that he would lose his name to Sun Shan. ”

Generally speaking, the Xie Yuan of each state will be selected, which can be regarded as an affirmation of the state's scholars, and letting Ma Yuanxiang fall to Sun Shan is not only for him, but also for Jiang Anyi.

"Who said that?" Jiang Anyi asked.

"A few days ago, when I was drinking with a few colleagues from the Ministry of Rites, I heard them mention it, and they refused to say it when I asked them repeatedly, but I just asked me to mention it after I met the lord, so that the lord could be more careful." Tian Shoulou said apologetically: "Later, I heard about this from other people, and it is estimated that it is eighty percent true." ”

Just two days after coming to the capital, I heard about Ma Yuanxiang, especially when this son was not in the middle of the battle between the prince and the king of Chu'an, Jiang Anyi sighed secretly, Ma Yuanxiang, you still ask for more blessings, I'm afraid I won't be able to help you.

After talking for half an hour, Tian Shoulou got up to say goodbye, Jiang Anyi told him to come to him if he heard any news, he lived here during this time.

On April 1, the Ministry of Rites submitted the candidates for the chief examiner, the Son of Heaven Shi Fangzhen circled the Zhongshulang Ma Suizhen as the chief examiner, and Jixian Hall University scholar He Yingjie as the deputy examiner, and an hour later, the names of the chief examiner, together with the names of twenty examiners with the examiner, became one or two silver examiners told to sell them in restaurants and inns. Among the twenty fellow examiners, Zhou Chucun was impressively listed, as well as the name of Wei Youcheng, the right man of the political affairs hall.

Yankang Fang returned to the inn, Chen Hanhai was very happy, the names of the examiner and the deputy examiner were all from the examiner's record, during this period of time, he concentrated on studying the articles and poems of the examiner's six people, and was familiar with Ma Suizhen and He Yingjie's literary style preferences, and the originally slim hope became clear.

Qiao Tiantong may have read the articles of these two people from time to time, but it is far worse than Chen Hanhai's specialization, seeing Chen Hanhai smiling from ear to ear, he couldn't help but pour cold water and said: "Brother Chen, don't be too happy, since the examiner has guessed the examiner, there must be many people like Brother Chen's specialization in the six-person article among the more than 10,000 candidates in the capital, and the competition is still fierce." ”

Chen Hanhai said disapprehantly: "At least it is several times stronger than not guessing, and the opportunity is in hand, and the odds of winning have greatly increased." ”

The list of examiners was released, and the examiners no longer had the intention of participating in the literary meeting, so they went to the bookstore one by one to look for these people's articles and poems to study, and most of them lost

Looking back, the articles of these people in the bookstore have long been sold out. Ma Yuanxiang said with a smile: "Brother Chen has collected a lot of articles from Master Ma and Master He, how about borrowing them for a look in the past few days?" ”

Qiao Tiantong's eyes were already hot, and he echoed beside him: "Brother Chen, I didn't buy all of them, and I borrowed a few copies to see." ”

Chen Hanhai really didn't want to borrow books, this was obviously to increase his opponents, but during this time, Ma Yuanxiang paid for food and accommodation, and he couldn't save face, so he had to grit his teeth and said: "I can only borrow one book a day, you take turns to read it, and I have to read the rest carefully." ”

Ma Yuanxiang was unhappy in his heart, stood up and said: "Forget it, I'll go to the bookstore in Fengle Fang, I heard that Moxiangzhai is stepping up printing, maybe I can buy it back." ”

Qiao Tiantong couldn't get used to Chen Hanhai's behavior, and had the heart to leave, but he was not as rich as Ma Yuanxiang, so he had to accompany Chen Hanhai with a smile and let him go into the house to watch this anthology of Ma Suizhen.

On the first day of the first month of April, the list of examiners and fellow examinees was announced, but they were not required to go to the Tribute House immediately, but those who got the news of the examiners and fellow examiners closed their doors and no longer received outsiders to avoid suspicion. Because these people all know that from the moment they learned the list, they were targeted by Long Wei, and there were spies staring at them all the time in front of the door and behind the house, maybe there were people squatting on the roof of the study at this moment, and even the family members were staring at when they went out to buy vegetables. Since the existence of the Dragon Guard, many unbelieving examiners have been sent to prison, and now there are both Dragon Guards and Secret Guards, and no one wants to test their ability to do things.

Wei Youcheng returned to his residence and said to his wife, Princess Anshou: "Your father ordered me to be the same examiner, and I will enter the boudoir on the sixth day, and I will not return home until about the 25th. ”

An Shou flattened his mouth and said: "It will take more than 20 days to enter the tribute courtyard, like a prison, my father is really good, let you suffer like this." ”

Wei Youcheng said with a smile: "Others can't ask for it, and you still complain, if you want your father to know, you can't say that you don't know what to do, and even I have to be a godwife who is not strict." ”

"Okay, you're trying to make a mockery that I'm being unreasonable, and I'm going to sue you to my father."

The couple were talking and laughing in the house, and an old cough came from outside the door, and Wei Yishen came. An Shou stuck out his tongue and hurriedly greeted Wei Youcheng together. Wei Yi was gray-haired and trembling when he walked, and Wei Youcheng and An Shou helped him into the house and sat down one by one. An Shou served tea with his own hands, then bowed, took the maid ring and retreated, leaving the house for his grandchildren to talk.

Wei Yishen raised his white eyebrows and said with a smile: "Cheng'er, the Son of Heaven ordered your fellow examiner." ”

"Exactly, my grandson is thinking about going to the house to report to my grandfather." Wei Youcheng habitually stood behind the old man, gently pinching his grandfather's shoulder.

Wei Yishen said with a smile: "You can't go out after ordering the examiner according to the law, grandpa simply came by himself, the Son of Heaven can't do anything to my old man." ”

Looking at the snow-white hair on his grandfather's head, Wei Youcheng remembered that he had been by his side since he could remember, and it was his grandfather who taught him to read and guide him to treat people and things, and now his grandfather is old.

The room was quiet, Wei Yishen sensed his grandson's thoughts, and said with a smile: "Life is rare for seventy years, and grandpa is already seventy and two, and he has no regrets." Cheng'er doesn't need to be a child, I have something to say to you. ”

Wei Youcheng couldn't help but feel sad and said with a smile: "Please give instructions to Prime Minister Wei." ”

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