[5000 words big chapter, thank you for your long-term support, but also put an end to this chapter, and ask for votes, there are many things at the end of the year, please forgive me for the slow update]

Originally, the Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites of the Guozijian Entrance Examination should also be there in person, but this time it was an exception, and the new funeral of the Emperor Daxing, many things were inseparable from the officials of the Ministry of Rites, so Wu Zongda, the incoming Guozi Priest, took on the role of invigilator.

Autumn is crisp, but the morning is a little uncomfortable. Coming from the Confucian Temple, a cadre of prisoners waited for about two minutes before they saw several messengers in the prison escorting the officials of the Guozijian to come in Shanshan. Because it was a temporary additional examination, the venue was not placed on a formal occasion such as the Gongyuan, but was held in a main hall in the Guozijian.

Wu Zongda sat down as the chairman, straightened out his clothes, and swept all the middle school students in the hall, and then said: "Today is the entrance exam, as long as the art and calligraphy are not too bad, they will not be degraded." If the artist is good, he will also have the opportunity to be taught in the two halls of Chongzhi and Justice, otherwise he can only start from Guangye Hall and go to prison. ”

Sure enough, just looking at the layout of the exam room, this exam is much easier than expected. But Wang Xingping thought about it, there are still many prisoners who do not need exams, and I am afraid that this is also in the prison to appease the resentment of serious students entering the prison.

There are no cubicles in the examination room, let alone the locks, just symbolically sitting in separate seats, which feels similar to the form of the palace examination, and there is no body search, which makes people feel relaxed. After a while, the examiner sent the question, and Wang Xingping looked at it and wrote 'the word of spontaneity', which is the opening sentence of "The Mean", and it is not a truncated question. The original text is 'the predicate of the Mandate of Heaven, the predicate of the Tao of spontaneity, and the predicate of the Tao of cultivation.' It seems that Master Wu does not attach much importance to this exam, so he is a little more casual about this question.

For such a question, Wang Xingping asked himself to be ready, and immediately picked up the pen and wrote, and before he knew it, it was already noon, and after handing in the papers, he went out of the country and went to take care of his own personal affairs.

…………

Five days later, Wang Xingping got his dossier as he wished, and it was passed without surprise.

At a cursory glance, it is a simple description of the situation of the prisoner, only the appearance is a more detailed description, but it is still much worse than the intuitiveness of the photo, but at this time it is already considered nuanced, it seems that people of any era will try their best to do all kinds of things to the extreme under the limitations of technology at that time.

And he saw that it was written,

'Wang Xingping, 16 years old, is a native of Xingui County, Guiyang Prefecture, learned from the Spring and Autumn Period, Guangye Hall Class A, 5 feet 7 inches tall, and has no white face. ’

'Great-ancestor Wang Jing, Jiajing 32 years of people, know Yunyang County. Ancestor Wang Yuanzuo, Longqing five years to raise people, not Shi, father to the court, Wanli 31 years to raise people, not Shi. Mother Shaw ......'

He was imprisoned on the 25th day of the seventh month of the 48th year of Wanli. ’

'It's a real experience. ’

This year has not yet passed, and according to the convention, the Wanli year name is still used, otherwise it is disrespectful to the first emperor.

Looking at the document book in his hand, the young man sighed in his heart, he finally had an official identity in Beijing.

He naturally knew that this notice book was still on file in the prison and the Ministry of Rites, and the content was more complete than the content in his hand, not only did it have the records of the punishment and absenteeism in the following years, but also the amount of food and money and the amount of meat and pepper oil received every month, and it was also at this time that he realized that most of the prisoners in this fasting house had to cook by themselves, of course, that was only the surface, after all, this time was not like the early years of the dynasty, and many rules could also be changed.

Money and food are not important to Wang Xingping, what he values most is the calendar of the new military camp in Xianshuigu, Tianjin, which is in charge of military training in the Yamen of the 48th year of Wanli. Wu Zongda really did not break his promise, and endorsed his behavior in the official face, and he will be more free in the future.

As long as the soldiers are trained well, his performance will not be bad, and there will naturally be no obstacle to obtaining the qualification for the township examination, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.

After putting away this book, he first went to the dormitory under the leadership of the guide clerk, exchanged pleasantries with several seniors who were in the same class for a while, and after greeting the doctor and the assistant professor in the hall, he went to the prison to leave a good impression, and then it was over.

When he finished cleaning up, it was already noon, and he found a restaurant outside the prison and had a simple lunch and hurried to the southwest.

Wang Zhongde's affairs still need to be dealt with, he doesn't think that this fourth brother will have a problem in the martial arts examination, and next year's martial arts test in Guizhou will not be defeated with Wang Zhongde's prestige among the military generals in Guizhou Province today. However, everything is always pre-planned, and it is good to have a few more ways, after all, his position as the commander of the Zhenxi Guard cannot be contaminated by outsiders. Fortunately, now the martial arts department can only try and not the palace test, as long as it is done in advance, I believe that with Wang Zhongde's past military exploits and martial arts, there should be a place.

And Qi Chengjiao of the Ministry of War had already promised to take care of this matter, and his visit this time was naturally to remind the other party by the way, under the banner of Qi Biaojia.

…………

"Knowing that Shibo is a lover of books, this time the little nephew specially asked someone to find a few sets of Australians' sayings from the south, I don't know if it is in line with my uncle's wishes." As soon as Fang sat down, Wang Xingping put the gift on the table, to let Qi Biaojia's old man do things for himself, he didn't need silver, just had a book, but the value of this book was not cheap.

Qi Chengjiao was really interested when he saw it, and immediately put down the tea and picked up a copy of "Tianlong Babu" and flipped it with relish.

"Speaking of which, this person named Jin Yong is indeed a wonderful person, I have seen a "Smiling Proud Jianghu" of this person before, and it is really interesting, but I vaguely feel that the story seems to have a point."

"Isn't it true or false that the ministry is so true or false?" Wang Xingping said with a smile, he could see that there was a deep meaning in the book, and he also looked down on this Uncle Qi, but about Jin Yong and his various hints to the red regime, I am afraid that even if Qi Chengyi is thorough, he will not understand.

Qi Chengyi talked about it with great interest, ignoring a trace of surprise on Wang Xing's plane, and said: "The one I read before seems to be from the Fujian Bookstore, but it is not as delicately bound as Tiancheng's books. ”

"Uncle really has a unique vision, these two books are indeed from the hands of Australians in Nanyang, and it took a lot of time for my little nephew to get it."

He said so, but in his heart he thought that the Fujian people had actually made piracy to Australia, and he wanted to remind Fu Xiaofei that he should knock and knock. But after thinking about it, piracy is more expensive than the genuine version is also a strange news in the world, after all, it is the printing and papermaking level of the Ming Dynasty, otherwise it will not be genuine with only one volume, and the pirated version will cost five or six copies, no wonder the price cannot be reduced, after all, Mr. Jin Yong's book does not need to pay for the manuscript.

Qi Chengjiao said: "Not long ago, I heard that those Australians expelled Xiyi to occupy Luzon, and there are a lot more Australian goods in the south, but this book is indeed very well printed. He picked up a copy of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" and said while flipping through it.

"The Australians occupy Luzon? Where did my uncle hear that? ”

Wang Xingping secretly wondered, it seems that the news in Beijing is not closed, at least there are already people in the Ming military department who know a lot about the actions of the Senate. But this is inevitable, after all, it was almost a year ago, and the businessmen who traveled to and from the sea would more or less bring back some news about the 'Australians', so I don't know if what Qi Chengyi said was his private understanding or the official channel of the Ministry of War.

"Most of what my future relatives said in the letter, and the Ministry of War has also received news from Fujian that the Australian sea ships have been to the Penghu Inspection Division, and many of the traitors who have recently smuggled out of Fujian have gone to the other side of the sea."

Wang Xingping suddenly realized, it seems that the source is Qi Biaojia's future father-in-law who is the governor of Fujian, and he still has an impression of Wang Xingping's previous account of the entrainment of the population by ships going to sea in Fujian Province, since the Senate has occupied the Jianan Plain in Tainan, it is not surprising that the patrol ships of the Fubo Army appeared near Penghu, but I didn't expect that the officials of the Ming Dynasty were much more sensitive than expected, and the news had been transmitted to this level, so I don't know what the Ming Court would do.

Wang Xingping thought about it and decided to bring a wave of rhythm, "I think that Luzon has been occupied by Xiyi since the World Temple, I'm afraid it's not so easy to expel it, Australians are just some people who are skilled in business, I heard that they claim to be the last descendants of the Song Dynasty, but I don't know that they will fight. ”

Qi Chengyi immediately put down the book and waved his hand, "I didn't believe it at first, but Tiancheng might as well take a look at this thing." ”

As he spoke, he took out an object from the side table beside him, which was a stack of slightly yellowed crisp pages, and it could be seen that the contents of it were frequently read by Master Qi these days, so he put it in a convenient place beside him.

He gently unfolded the page, and when he saw the four vigorous and elegant characters on the page, Wang Xingping couldn't help but feel his heart skip a beat - "Xinhua Daily"!

I didn't expect this thing to spread to the Ming Dynasty, but after thinking about it, as long as there is exchange and trade, this matter is inevitable, and the Senate does not seem to have any intention of deliberately concealing it. And if it has been more than three years since the landing in Brunei, it will be sooner or later.

In the next time, he no longer tried to cover up for the Senate, but single-mindedly set up Qi Chengji's words, from the mouth of Master Qi, not only knew that a lot of news about Ao Song had spread to the top of the Ming Dynasty in the past half a year, but even some of the information deliberately delivered by Fanbang also knew, probably in Qi Chengji's opinion, the Australians were not a big problem, and Wang Xingping was not an outsider, so he didn't hide much.

As Qi Chengjiao said, through the tributary envoys and merchants of the surrounding small countries, and even the semi-official information of Macao and Fujian, although there are many contradictions in some places, it still roughly depicts the outline of the power of the Song Dynasty in Macao.

The Ministry of War and the Cabinet already knew that the Australians now occupied many parts of the South Seas and had set up many enemies. Although these enemies could not compete with the Australians in strength, they did not prevent them from attacking the seemingly powerful Ming as a backer.

Recently, the Ming court has received sporadic information about Australians from various forces, but it has not been reported in the palace, and I don't know whether the court attaches too much importance to it or not, Wang Xingping thinks that it is probably the latter. And there is no shortage of alarmist speculators in the Ming Dynasty to take advantage of the affairs of the Australian Song Dynasty to get some benefits for themselves, such people have never been less, some people want to rely on the work of collecting intelligence to get the imperial court to value a person who was born or entered the shogunate of a feudal official, and more want to take the opportunity to obtain economic benefits.

Of course, there is also a greater force that is adding fuel to the fire, that is, Jiangnan Shilin.

Recently, there have been a lot of Australian goods resold to the Ming Dynasty, and other luxury things are fine, but such as cloth and the like have greatly damaged the interests of the Jiangnan family, and the merchants and the Qi family are also Jiangnan families.

The cloth merchants in Jiangnan and the big families behind the cloth merchants intend to crack down on Australian cloth, but because the Senate is laid out in advance with the imperial store, I am afraid that it will be a little difficult in the Ming Dynasty. But this did not prevent them from preparing to create public opinion, and at the very least, they were able to make a statement to the surrounding vassal states in the name of the imperial court, which was just right for them to add to the obstruction of the Senate.

Regarding the coming of this day, Wang Xingping, Fu Xiaofei and the entire Senate were mentally prepared, but it was the first time that they had confirmed this news from the mouths of the officials of the Ministry of War, and the eyes of the Senate in Beijing did not seem to be aware of it.

Wang Xingping naturally felt that he should remind the south that the so-called thieves are afraid of thieves if they are not afraid of thieves.

It just so happens that you can also learn from this channel which forces are secretly moving, and those behind the scenes may never have imagined that there are such backers in the Ming Jingshi and the Senate.

It was because he was thinking about it while listening to Qi Chengjiao's words, and occasionally he had to find some words to change the topic, so he said that he returned to the mansion at night and was left for dinner.

Early the next morning, he met Zhang Bingfang at home.

"I haven't been out much these days, and the third uncle told me about some major events in Beijing recently."

"The major event is naturally the military situation in Liaodong, followed by His Majesty's illness and the aftermath of Emperor Daxing, in addition, there is naturally an external inspection in the year after tomorrow, although there is still more than a year to go, but the parents who are far away are probably going to Beijing after the New Year, and some of their relationships in Beijing are now also looking everywhere, what do you think?"

Wang Xingping nodded while listening, this person is indeed good at intelligence, and can grasp the key points, at least he will not use the autumn festival food of the citizens of the capital to perfunctory himself. He even began to inquire about the next year, but this was not what he wanted to hear.

"I heard that the cloth merchants in Jiangnan have been in tandem recently, and they want to be unfavorable to Australian cloth?"

Zhang Bingfang was slightly stunned at first, and then realized that the son in front of him seemed to have something to do with Australian maritime businessmen.

"I've heard about it, but it's mainly cloth merchants, and I don't have much contact with them, so I don't know much."

"How do I remember that the third uncle's family is a cotton merchant in Jiangnan?"

Zhang Bingfang was not embarrassed, and said with a smile: "My family has always only made cotton, and there are other people in Songjiang who preside over the weaving business, but they can't interfere." ”

He didn't understand what Wang Xingping wanted to ask, it was hard to say much, and it was true, in June and July last year, there were many foreign merchants who collected cotton in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, which was half to one percent higher than the price offered by Songjiang cloth merchants. Later, I learned that the person in charge of the acquisition should be a merchant surnamed Hu in Songjiang Prefecture, whose business name is a Guangli firm located in the outer cabinet of Shanghai County, and vaguely seems to have something to do with Australian maritime merchants, because it is said that all the cotton purchased later was loaded on sea ships and not woven into cloth, and soon after the Ming Dynasty was convenient, there were a lot of Australian cotton cloth of dubious origin.

Wang Xingping saw Zhang Bingfang's reaction, and said with a smile: "The third uncle doesn't have to worry too much, you also know that my family is also from a businessman's background, if it is not cost-effective to suffer losses because of the battle between cloth merchants, it is not cost-effective, and the third uncle needs to help me inquire more because of the interests here." ”

"It turned out to be this, in fact, it is not a big deal, I heard someone at the banquet of the same township last time, and recently the cloth merchants in the south of the Yangtze River intend to connect with each other to make trouble for Australian goods." He thought about it and chuckled again, "But I'm afraid it's no fun in Jingshi, you also know that it is Baohe Store that is doing the Australian cloth business now, where will those eunuchs care about the life and death of the cloth merchants, it's just ......"

"Just what?"

"It's just that in Songjiang, those who help Australian cloth merchants harvest cotton are afraid that there will be some trouble." Of course, the first thing he thought of was the businessman surnamed Hu, and the local businessman in Zhejiang was the most grouped.

But Wang Xingping just sighed, and then diverted the topic and asked some other news.

As a result, in the end, Zhang Bingfang mysteriously said a secret news that had just come out of the big house.

"Yesterday, Li Kezhuo presented a blue pill to the Long Live Lord, claiming to be obtained from an extraterritorial immortal prescription, and guess what?"

Wang Xingping smiled mysteriously when he heard this, and asked, "How?" ”

"It is said that His Majesty is in good spirits after taking the medicine, and Li Keqing has now become a loyal minister."

"Oh? That's a good thing. Wang Xingping said with a smile, looking like he had nothing to do with himself, but listening to Zhang Bingfang say this, compared to Zhu Changluo's illness, it seems that his life was saved for a while.

Zhang Bingfang was a little suspicious, he vaguely felt that the matter of offering medicine seemed to have something to do with Wang Xingping, but he couldn't say it, but he still shook his head and stopped thinking about it.

After sending Zhang Fang away, Wang Xingping returned to the study alone.

There is still nearly a year to go between now and next year's township examination, and there are still many things to plan except for training in Tianjin, but no matter the time and space, he is already very free.

In this way, in addition to going to Tianjin first to report to Fu Xiaofei the news he had just heard, he even thought of going to Dengzhou.

I heard Zhang Bingfang say that the imperial court had intended to set up the post of governor of Denglai, and to separate Dengzhou's maritime and military affairs from Shandong and put them under control. According to Zhang Fang's sources, the most favored candidate for the new governor of Denglai is Tao Langxian, the deputy envoy of Shandong.

This person is a native of Xiushui County, Jiaxing Prefecture, a Jinshi in the 35th year of Wanli (1607), and has been an official in Shandong since he was appointed as the prefect of Dengzhou Prefecture in 41 years. Previously, he asked the sea to embargo grain to help Liaodong, suppressed the rebellion of Hu Congkui of the White Lotus Sect, and later built a academy in Dengzhou and reclaimed the island field, which was very popular with the people. In the last year of B (the forty-seventh year of Wanli), the foreign inspection was the first in Shandong's performance evaluation, since the establishment of the army, in two years, it also organized Dengzhou to transport 1.8 million stone of Liao military grain, and was a practical talent.

But after hearing Zhang Bingfang say a lot about this fellow Zhejiang countryman, he was most interested in the shipping between the White Lotus Sect and Dengzhou.

If there is anything in Shandong that attracts Wang Xingping's attention the most, it is undoubtedly the population, especially the Luxi Mountains, because the economy is withering and there are many believers, but in Wang Xingping's view, these manpower are resources, in fact, Tao Langxian did the same, after pacifying the White Lotus Rebellion, those chaotic people were recruited by him and sent to the islands near the sea of Dengzhou, Tuntian, a few years of work, has opened more than 7,000 acres of Shimada, more than 300,000 stones of valley.

What Tao Lang can do first, Wang Xingping asked himself, it is not impossible to do it, maybe it can be better.

'Dengzhou'.

He couldn't help but silently read it again in his heart, as if there was a hint of anticipation.

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