Ji Qingwen talked to Xu Guangqi for a while, and when he saw that it was getting late, he got up and persuaded Xu Guangqi to go back to rest early, so as not to be too tired.

After all, Xu Guangqi is also a person who is close to old age, and when he met Ji Qingwen today, although he did not achieve the goal of persuading him to give up saving Yuan Chonghuan, he also spoke very thoroughly, and even obtained two books that were printed in volumes.

Therefore, Xu Guangqi's trip today can be regarded as quite rewarding.

So Xu Guangqi raised his hand and wiped the tears that were still on his face with his sleeve, and greeted the old housekeeper who was waiting outside the door twice, and after hearing the old housekeeper's promise, he slowly stood up from the seat.

Ji Qingwen saw Xu Guangqi's old appearance, hurriedly got up and helped him up, pushed the door open, and saw that the old housekeeper was already waiting outside the door, so he instructed: "This old man, Xu Ge is tired, you better help your master back to the house and rest early." Be careful along the way, and if you bump into it, be careful that I will trouble you! ”

Ji Qingwen said this, but Xu Guangqi was still a little unconvinced, and said: "Lord Ji also underestimates the old man, although the old man is old, he is not yet dead!" ”

Ji Qingwen also smiled: "It's not! I'm still waiting to grow sweet potatoes for Xu Ge Lao to taste them! ”

Xu Guangqi heard Ji Qingwen mention his "Complete Book of Agricultural Administration" again, as if he heard someone praising his son, his mood became much better, "hehe" smiled and said: "Okay, a word is a certainty, Brother Ji's words have to count......"

While talking, Li Yan, Li Yuanyin, Duo Jiugong and others who were sitting in the atrium of the Yunlai Inn drinking tea also came around, listening to the old and the young talking was really interesting, although it was inconvenient to interject more, but they were also standing aside, with a smile on their faces.

Xu Guangqi really didn't have a fight, he greeted the people present one by one, and deliberately patted Li Yan's shoulder and asked, "This is Brother Ji's courage, Mr. Li Yan, right?" ”

Li Yan hurriedly bowed his hand and said, "Don't dare, don't dare." A late-born nobody, how can he be worthy of the word 'sir' in the mouth of the elder pavilion? ”

The smile on Xu Guangqi's face remained unchanged, and he said: "There is nothing to talk about that can not be afforded, Confucius said: 'Threesome, there must be my teacher'; Han Yu said: 'There is a precedence in hearing the Tao, and there is a specialization in the arts', that's all." Brother Ji gave the emperor, most of them were drafted by Mr. Li Yanxiao, right? The old man has also read a lot, which is quite impressive. If you want the old man to look at it, it is much more capable than eighty percent of the officials in the court. Next year is the fourth year of Chongzhen, which is the period of scientific examination, if Mr. Li has the heart to devote himself to his career, the old man will definitely take care of it. ”

Xu Guangqi's words seem to be extremely ordinary, but they are thrilling to those who are interested, because the word "care" alone involves an unspoken rule in the imperial examination system of the Ming Dynasty - the protégé system.

It turned out that the imperial examination system in the Ming Dynasty was prosperous, and every year there were well-educated people from all over the country, sharpening their heads to win fame in the scientific field by virtue of their eight-strand literary skills.

And the fierce competition on the field is not below the battlefield at all. And the only difference between the two is that on the battlefield, it is a real fight between swords and guns, you and me; In addition to eating with real skills, there are also other opportunistic methods.

In order to prevent the occurrence of fraud in the imperial examination field, a series of mechanisms to prevent cheating were designed at the beginning of the establishment of the imperial examination system, and later they were continuously improved in the practice of hundreds of years and thousands of years, forming a series of systems and practices to eliminate fraud, such as sealing names, copying, and avoidance. The officials who came up with these systems were also experts who had been stumbling in the examination room several times, and the systems they designed were naturally very ingenious, and many measures are still playing a role in various examinations until today in the 21st century.

It stands to reason that as long as such many systems are meticulously implemented, the occurrence of all kinds of fraud in the field can be prevented. However, the Chinese have been one of the smartest people in the world since ancient times, and their smartest thing is that they can walk out of a road where there is no road.

Those candidates who lack real talent and learning, but have some cleverness, have finally come up with a perfect set of cheating methods. That is, in the answer sheet of the exam, write a few agreed words, as long as the examiner sees these words, he will know that the person answering the paper is his own person, and when marking the paper, there will be some favoritism, and naturally the purpose of cheating will be achieved.

However, this approach has its limitations.

One is that the candidate's own writing style must be passable, otherwise the examiner really takes a bullshit article according to the agreement, and it is very easy to be caught. In case there are a few opponents of his own in the court, and after an impeachment, even the examiner himself will not be able to eat and walk away.

The second is that the candidate must find an examiner who admits his or her code words, otherwise you will write these code words in the whole article, and no one will pay attention to you.

So under this unspoken rule, the "agreed protégé" system has the soil to emerge.

Every year of the scientific examination, the examiners of the imperial examination, the Zaifu of the cabinet, and the bigwigs of the officialdom will deliberately look for a few talented candidates, let them worship under their doors in advance, and agree on a few established sentences, so that they can take care of them when the time comes. And what they are looking for is naturally those candidates who are talented, famous, have a background, and have a future, so that they can have the value of further training, so as not to take risks but do a loss-making business.

In this way, the candidate has a reliable backer, which greatly improves the probability of success in the scientific examination, and the examiner also adds a natural political ally, forming a real win-win situation. Even if there are "idlers" who are full of food and have many tongues, they can still prevaricate the past with such a high-sounding reason as "promoting virtue for the country, lest the pearl be dusted". It's a good deal that doesn't make a profit.

And Xu Guangqi, the No. 3 big man in the cabinet, fell in love with Li Yan and wanted to do this good deal and big deal with him.

But to tell the truth, with Xu Guangqi's status and character, he did take a fancy to Li Yan's knowledge and knowledge, and wanted to give him a ride in the officialdom, and he had no more selfishness.

Li Yan was born in a family of eunuchs - his father Li Jingbai used to be the secretary of the military department and was one of the best civil officials in the imperial court - plus he was a smart man, and he instantly heard Xu Guangqi's intentions.

But this Li Yan, who followed Ji Qingwen and was also quite experienced in the mall, rejected the good deal hinted at by Xu Guangqi.

I saw Li Yan bow his hand without losing his manners and said: "Xu Ge's kindness is appreciated by his late life." However, the success or failure of the field is not only related to the quality of the article, but also to the prosperity and decline of the times. Xu Ge Lao has all the opportunities, and when he is born later, why should he bother more? ”

As soon as Li Yan's words fell, Xu Guangqi's old housekeeper was unhappy, and said with a calm face: "This gentleman is too uninteresting. You are in the capital, you might as well go out and inquire, when did our master accept a protégé apprentice? He looks up to you as an old man, and you dare to take a shelf, I really don't know how to lift ......."

"!" Xu Guangqi interrupted the butler's words, "What do you know? Fame and fortune, you can take it directly, or you can seek it in the song, it is all the business of the reader, whether it is straight or not, the court has its own public opinion, how can you be a subordinate who can point fingers? ”

He arched his hand towards Li Yan again and said, "Mr. Li really has the style of an ancient celebrity, and there are not many people in the government and the opposition like this...... The few words just now were the old man's words, and he asked Mr. Li not to take them to heart. ”

After that, Xu Guangqi left the Yunlai Inn with the support of the housekeeper.

Ji Qingwen is an expert in business, and he knows a little bit about officialdom, but he doesn't know anything about the inside story of the imperial examination, and he doesn't understand the conversation between Xu Guangqi and Li Yan.

It wasn't until he asked Li Yan about the reason and origin that he sighed and said, "How did Brother Li let such a great opportunity slip away from his hand?" Brother Li already has real talent and real learning, if there is such a big backer as Xu Gelao, next year's scientific examination is not confident and certain? ”

Li Yan is familiar with Ji Qingwen, so it is naturally much easier to speak, and he said with slanted eyes: "I would rather not have such a fame!" ”