In fact, Emperor Zhao Xu himself was not disgusted by this matter, on the contrary, when the tall Zhao Xing squatted down to sort out his clothes, Zhao Xu only felt fatherly warmth and care, so he waved his hand behind his back to prevent the guards from interfering.

Originally, with Zhao Xing's shrewdness, he could completely detect the abnormalities around him, but when he squatted, he had just been newly married, his mind was all on the child, occasionally alert, and was covered by the excitement of entering the palace......

Now, when he heard that the forbidden army was not under martial law to ask himself for guilt, he breathed a sigh of relief, remembered the process of learning etiquette at that time, and asked carefully: "I heard that the emperor needs to kneel three times and bow nine times, why didn't you let us practice it, I heard that the etiquette is very complicated when bowing, and the officials of the Ministry of Rites don't teach us, can the master ......?"

Halfway through his words, Zhao Xing had already realized his mistake, and he thought of a famous hand-painted painting by Song Huizong, which depicted him sitting on a bench with Cai Jing......

Monarchs and ministers are all sitting!

In the Song Dynasty, when the court was discussing matters, the ministers did not have to bow down, and the first person also had the qualifications of scholars, so they naturally did not have to bow down.

Immediately afterwards, Mrs. Wang's explanation confirmed his conjecture......

Zhao Xing didn't know that this phenomenon was recorded in many Song Dynasty posthumous albums: the monarch and the minister were opposite. The courtiers did not bow down in front of the emperor - this shows that Song officials did not need to kneel three times and bow nine times.

I love this big song!

However, in the Song Dynasty, there was still a "three kneels and nine knocks" etiquette. That was the salute that the common people needed to perform, and then, Zhu Yuanzhang, who was born as a common man and a scoundrel, became the emperor, and he introduced the kneeling ceremony into the court......

After a false alarm, Zhao Xingcai put his mind at ease, and after thinking about it, he suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.

In his experience, when this national crisis broke out. The New Party, who is good at the philosophy of struggle, must come up with an idea to deflect the "storm of accountability." How to transfer - infighting. And at this moment, who is most vulnerable to attack - Su Shi. Only Su Shi, the middle mediator, struggled against him with the least resistance.

Zhao Xing raised his eyes and looked at Mrs. Wang, who was slightly unconscious at this time. After making fun of Zhao Xing, she chatted with Cheng Azhu about clothes and explained in detail what she needed to pay attention to when wearing clothes and hats in the future.

"For example, boots", Mrs. Wang pointed to Cheng Azhu's beautiful red boots, and continued: "It doesn't matter what color shoes our girls wear, but you can only wear black in the future, and this kind of shoes is called black." And the accessories you wear around your waist are also exquisite......"

After talking about the issues that need to be paid attention to in clothing, Mrs. Wang pointed at Zhao Xing again. smiled and said: "Also, your previous name was also a random call, but you should pay attention to it in the future, such as Chaoyun." You often call her aunt, which is not right, you should call her young mother, branch mother. I bought her and took my last name. You can call her the young mother of the king and the wife of the king. The same goes for your students. I want to call Yiyi as Chen Shaomu and Chen Zhiwei......

And thou hast called thy servant a servant. This shouldn't be, you should call them yards, guests, and housekeepers as insiders and old people...... In the past, Wen Xianggong (Wen Yanbo) once talked with a friend: when he first became an envoy, the courtyard people had already called himself a servant, and when he became the prime minister, the servant's title to himself was upgraded again. You see, the word servant is noble, how dare you call your own yard a servant at will......

The courtyard calls the male and female hosts Langjun and Niang, and your courtyards call you a member and a master, and when you hear this title, you know that it is your teaching land, what is this name? When you are white, you scream and no one blames you. In the future, if you want to deal with officials, you need to be careful, if you don't call them the right one, it will attract resentment and impeachment......"

According to Mrs. Wang's explanation, Cheng Azhu will be called "Ruren" in the future, and the students must call her Cheng Niangniang, "Niangniang". As for "aunt", it is for the husband to call his wife's sister, and the student cannot be used to call the teacher and concubine. As the wife of an official, Ah Zhu's clothing is also regulated, to what grade to wear, what color, what style to wear, the requirements are very detailed, in case of deviance, it will attract the impeachment of the imperial history.

Even the title is so troublesome, Zhao Xing only listened to it for a moment, and he felt dizzy.

Mrs. Wang stayed at Zhao Xing's house until the evening, and then she took her leave, and she introduced the precautions in more detail than the officials of the Ministry of Rites, and it was only at this time that Zhao Xing knew how ignorant he was in the past. He now understands that the Song Dynasty originally had two sets of etiquette, one was a commoner etiquette, and it was necessary to see the official and kowtow; The other is the ritual method of scholars. Scholars did not have to kowtow to the emperor, paid less taxes, and had many preferential treatments, but they had more etiquette to observe when they interacted with each other......

The next day, as soon as the sky was bright, Zhao Xing was awakened by Ma Mengde. This time Cheng Xia learned to be obedient, he knew that he couldn't enter the palace, and it was boring to wait outside, so he didn't ask to follow. Zhao Xing rode on a horse alone, and two domestic servants carried a lamp for him, and he hurried to the palace with the stars.

When passing by Su Shi's mansion, Su Shi was also going out, his face was solemn, and he seemed a little bored, and when he saw Zhao Xing, he nodded hurriedly. Zhao Xing was not polite, and urged the horse to be parallel to him.

The two high-headed horses walked into the street together, attracting the applause of countless officials, many officials looked out of the sedan chair and saw that it was Su Shi, and retracted their heads back into the sedan chair.

Su Shi didn't say anything all the way, and when he saw Donghua Gate, he whispered: "Yesterday, someone in the court talked about this imperial examination, and some imperial historians said that my imperial examination topic was inappropriate, and they dismembered the examination questions, took them out of context, and then said that I intended to slander the emperor...... Fortunately, Empress Dowager Gao stopped her.

After that, some officials said that I was favoritism in admitting you...... Fortunately, your paper was answered wonderfully, and the paper was read on the spot, and all the officials in the court were speechless. In addition, now the capital is singing the three new songs you composed. Especially "Farewell", the city sang all over the city and drank all the joy. It makes the accusation seem to be nothing wrong.

However, the matter has not ended, and some officials said: Since there is such a talent and learning, why is it really unfair to be at the bottom of the list...... Some people also said: and the first student is one hundred and thirty-seven, and the last place on the list is Zhao Xing - unlucky.

Hey, that's it, no matter what they do, they have to blame and abuse"

What is Zhao Xingdi's name? His surname is Zhao. The emperor of the Song Dynasty was also surnamed Zhao, during the Qingtang Rebellion, the last place on the imperial examination list was Zhao Xing, and the ancients who liked to say that it was not a good omen to do so, so they planned to make a fuss about the ranking of Zhao Xing.

Zhao Xing listened. Suddenly, he said sullenly: "Is it possible for me to be the champion because of my good name?" Then I'm not going to be the laughing stock of the ages...... That's it, I didn't expect the imperial examination to cause so much trouble - it's better to go back. ”

Zhao Xing said as he turned the horse's head, Su Shi was anxious, he understood that Zhao Xing was worried about causing him more trouble, so he planned to quit. But if Zhao Xing quits like this, it will not be good for everyone. He hurriedly grabbed Zhao Xing and persuaded in a low voice.

There were already a lot of officials and people around Donghua Gate, and the pull of the two immediately alarmed the forbidden army. The official of the forbidden army on duty rushed over and shouted, but when he saw the person on the horse clearly through the *** in Zhao Xing's hand, he immediately lowered his voice a lot: "Zhao Lang, you can't make trouble here." Don't look at what kind of place this is?

I beg you. Today, brother on duty, you can be quiet for a while. I'll ask you when I go back. If you like to quarrel here, come tomorrow, I won't be on duty tomorrow. ”

Zhao Xing heard the other party speak so kindly, he leaned over and picked up the lamp in his hand in the courtyard - Zhang appeared in the light with that chubby face.

Now that the "friend" had spoken, Zhao Xing stopped his movements sullenly. Su Shi saw that Zhao Xing no longer insisted on going back, he hurriedly pulled Zhao Xing's horse and walked towards Donghua Gate, Zhao Xing only had time to arch his hand at Zhang Yong on the horse, and behind him, Zhang Yong patted his chest and breathed a long sigh of relief.

The commotion had already alarmed the officials, who were all waiting outside the Donghua Gate for the imperial city to open its gates, their feet unmoved, whispering to each other. Zhao Xing ignored them, searched among a group of people in white clothes, and found Zhou Bang's figure, he walked over, grabbed this person, and replied in a low voice: "What?" Where have you lived these two days, and why don't you go to my house? ”

Zhou Bangshi arched his hand to Zhao Xing on the spot, his attitude was much kinder, he lowered his voice and first thanked Zhao Xing for sending his brother away, and then replied in a low voice: "There are several groups of people living in your house, I won't join in the excitement." ”

"Don't go to join in that fun" is an angry sentence, but in fact, because this guy has different political views from Qin Guan and others, so he can't get along.

In fact, in the Song Dynasty, there was often this kind of borrowing phenomenon, the borrower and the owner's life did not have much intersection, they were hungry and ordered the kitchen to make it, and when thirsty they ordered the female envoy to serve tea and water.

Often, there is not much intersection between the borrowers, this is because the Song-style houses are all courtyards one by one, and each guest has his own independent world, unless the host convenes, they do not interfere and live their own lives.

There are many people living in Zhao Xing's house, but his house is also a petty bourgeois residence in the Song Dynasty, with more than 100 houses. Because in the outer city, this kind of house is generally not as good as the grade of the inner city. For example, the area where Su Shi lived was equivalent to a noble residential area in the Song Dynasty, and it is now an area within the first ring of Beijing, and the imperial palace is close at hand. Therefore, although Su Shi's house has more than forty rooms, in terms of overall grade, it is more than one or two levels higher than Zhao Xing.

See, the Song people's houses, the people in the capital have more than 40 houses in the first ring, which is the bottom line of the middle class, and it will not show its grade when it comes out of the second ring. There are more than 100 houses in Zhao Xingdi, and even the locals can live in it. But such a house is indeed not of the highest grade.

According to the customs of the Song Dynasty, Zhao Xing needed at least 100 servants to take care of more than 100 houses. In this respect, the servants he hired, nay, the courtyard, were obviously not of sufficient level either.

After Zhou Bangyan left the capital, Zhou Bangshi became homeless, the temple he borrowed was not far from Zhao Xing's house, when he saw off Zhou Bangyan, Zhao Xing invited him to move into his home, but Zhou Bangshi thought that Zhao Xing's friends were too broad, there were everyone in the house, and there was no one from the New Party, so it was not appropriate for him to move in.

The two were deliberating in a low voice. Zhao Xing was still persuading, and the imperial city shouted on the ground. Then three drums sounded, and the palace gates slowly opened. Officials began to rush in, and these new imperial examinees were ushered into the main hall of the Ministry of Rites by officials of the Ministry of Rites, waiting for the emperor's summons.

There were many halls in the palace, each of which had a special purpose, and the emperor's daily task was to move around several halls. Discuss political affairs in one hall, receive foreign guests in one hall, and receive court officials and ministers in one hall. The main hall that receives the candidates for the imperial examination is called the "Jiying Palace".

At three o'clock in the morning, the candidates were already hungry, the discussion in the court was not over, many people were dizzy with hunger, and some people took out snacks from their sleeves. Chewing secretly, Zhao Xingyi pulled Zhou Bangshi and stuffed something in his sleeve.

"What?" Zhou Bangshi didn't dare to move, he fumbled with the thing in his sleeve and asked Zhao Xing quietly.

Zhao Xing chewed something in his mouth and responded vaguely: "Preserved meat, it's delicious...... I'm too big to go hungry. Carry such things with you, eat them quickly, and when you go to the temple, you won't have a chance. ”

A handsome man beside Zhou Bangshi came up. Gracefully said, "Give me a little, is there anything else?" In Xia Jianshi Zhan Miao, the word instrument, this young brother's surname? How do you call it up and down? ”

Zhao Xing and Zhou Bangshi hurriedly communicated their names to each other, and stuffed this guy with a big piece of dried meat. Several people's lips quirmed. The aroma of the dried meat caused a sound of foaming foam around the area, and several students quietly came up. asked Zhao Xing for dried meat, and Zhao Xing slapped his hands: "No, bring food into the palace privately, how much can you bring - just three pieces, one for each of the three of me." I'm sorry! ”

Zhou Bangshi heard that there was no more, he was worried that others would turn to him to ask for it, so he sped up his chewing, choked carelessly, and was coughing, Zhao Xing lifted him, patted his back, and stuffed a small thin tube into his mouth.

It turned out to be a light wine, and Zhou Bangshi remembered that it was Lang wine. He took two sharp puffs, looked at Zhao Xing in surprise, and asked Zhao Xing how he did it with his eyes. Zhao Xing patted the wide belt, and there was a slight sound of water in the belt.

Zhan Miao heard the sound of water and leaned over: "Where is the water, I heard the sound of water, and I am dying of thirst." ”

Zhao Xing lifted Zhan Miao, pretended to pat him on the back, as if he was also coughing him, with the help of his body's cover, he put his hand and stuffed the leather tube into his mouth.

Zhan Miao gulped down the light wine violently, and Zhao Xing's originally smiling face gradually stiffened - this guy is a greedy person. Zhou Bangshi just took a few sips, quenched his hunger and thirst and spit out the hose, but this person was not conscious at all, Zhao Xing didn't speak, he didn't stop drinking, while drinking, he looked away, for fear that Zhao Xing would give him a look and ask him to stop. Zhao Xing didn't persuade him, he wanted to see how much this person could drink.

Wait, wait, wait until there is not a drop of the water bag left in his waist, Zhan Miao sucked the tube and popped, and then he relaxed the tube unsatisfactorily, and stood back in line without looking.

Zhou Bangshi was displeased: "How can this guy be like this, he didn't even say thank you?" ”

Zhao Xing shook his head lightly to stop Zhou Bang's low scolding.

People who love to take advantage of small advantages have a habit - after taking a small advantage, they are afraid that others will ask for something in return, so they will look for the other party's small mistakes and desperately slander them, so as to get rid of their sense of benefit. Therefore, giving a small advantage to someone who loves to take advantage of a small advantage is a kind of revenge against the enemy. Zhao Xing has already begun to regret taking care of this person, but he knows that the other party has taken advantage of it and is waiting for the opportunity to abuse and slander, at this time, as long as the attitude is a little contemptuous, the annoyed and angry other party will remember this hatred, maybe it will not occur at that time, and it will inevitably find fault afterwards.

The waiting children in the main hall of the Ministry of Rites did not usher in the summons until the afternoon, they entered the Jiying Hall under the guidance of the cereitant and sat on the ground, and the officials of the Ministry of Rites then placed a small table beside each person, put pen, ink, paper and inkstone, and the palace test began.

Everyone else began to answer the questionnaire in fear, and as soon as Zhao Xing and the other eunuchs who blocked his vision left, he first looked at the hall with an excited expression. There were two chairs in the main hall, an old lady sat there with a majestic expression, surrounded by a group of court officials dressed in vermilion, and another chair in the hall was opposite him, but the court ministers stood facing the noble lady with their buttocks facing the chair.

The chair was sitting on a child, that is, His Majesty Zhezong, who was patted on the head by Zhao Xing, there were no windows in ancient times, and the depths of the hall seemed a little dim, but Zhao Xing still found out, when he looked at the child. Zhezong, who made a serious face with a straight face, suddenly squeezed a glance at him.

The temple examination is over. Immediately afterwards, the eunuchs put a simple meal, and there was a pot of wine in front of each lifter - this is the legendary Qionglin banquet, which is the highest expectation in the life of a cultural person, and the candidates first ate a few mouthfuls of food in a hurry to cope with the hungry stomach.

Many years later, Zhao Xing saw the real Qionglin Banquet, and it was then that he realized that he had been fooled by the imperial court at that time......

Among all candidates. Zhou Bangshi, Zhan Miao, and Zhao Xing ate the most elegant, these three people were full of wine and food, and naturally there was no gobbling action, among them, that Zhan Miao's posture was the most pleasing to the eye. His every move revealed the teachings of the family, and even Zhao Xing secretly stopped when he saw it, and he was ashamed of himself.

The candidates were eating, and the officials were discussing the candidates' papers, after all, there were only more than a hundred copies, and the Chinese style was discussed. Most of them are pretending, the basic intention has been reached in advance, and the discussion is just for everyone to see, and then announced.

Zhao Xing ate a few bites of food. He looked at Zhezong in his seat again, and nodded lightly when he saw that the child was not noticed, and he looked away, so as not to torture the child. When he looked to the other side, he found that Empress Dowager Gao, who was sitting in a chair, was looking at the three of them. Her gaze stayed on Zhan Miao for the longest time. And Zhan Miao was obviously aware of this gaze, and he showed the most charming smile. The posture is also more elegant.

After a while, the courtiers' arguments had stopped, and the list was presented to the Empress Dowager Gao, who clicked Zhan Miao with a pen, and someone immediately handed over a scroll, which was estimated to be Zhan Miao's scroll.

After reading Zhan Miao's scroll, Empress Dowager Gao's pen pointed at Zhao Xing again - Zhao Xing found that she was pointing at herself because Su Shi quickly stood up and pointed at Zhao Xing and stated in a low voice. Empress Dowager Gao didn't care about him, but when she saw Zhao Xing's scroll, she immediately sneered. She immediately handed the scroll to Su Shi, probably saying a few words that made Su Shi blush, embarrassed.

They must be talking about Zhao Xingdi's poor handwriting. Su Shi's calligraphy was the four masters of the Northern Song Dynasty, and his disciple actually wrote an ugly character, no wonder Empress Dowager Gao wanted to make fun of him.

The court officials all let out a chuckle, and when they laughed, their buttocks were all at Zhezong, and they had no interest in introducing him at all, and Zhezong had no expression on his face. Then the Empress Dowager Gao picked up the pen, changed a few rankings, and handed the list to the eunuch, who forwarded it to Zhezong, and the Empress Dowager Gao asked: "Official, what do you mean?" ”

Zhezong glanced at the list, didn't even have the interest to pick it up, lowered his eyes and replied: "The meaning of the eldest lady is the meaning of me, and I have no objection." ”

The provincial examination and the palace examination are just a form, and after this form, because the emperor personally selected them, there is no teacher for the students, and their teacher can only be the Son of Heaven, so the Jinshi are called "protégés of the Son of Heaven".

There is no major change in the order of this list and the provincial test list, the only adjustment is Zhao Xing's ranking, because this name fell at the bottom of the list, which really embarrassed the Zhao royal family, but his ugly words made him unable to sit on the throne of the champion. So he was adjusted from the third list to the inconspicuous second list, and became "Jinshi was born".

The list of eunuchs ran out, and this list was posted on the Xuande Building, which was announced to the whole world. The champion is Zhan Miao, and Zhao Xing didn't remember the names of Bangyan and Tanhua. He was already very satisfied with being able to become a Jinshi in the second list. Immediately afterwards, the famous "Lalang Matching" program of the Song Dynasty was staged, and the Zhao and Song royal families led by example and took the first step to snatch their relatives - they had this advantage.

The Empress Dowager Gao on the throne asked Zhan Miao with a pleasant face: "Has Zhan Zhuangyuan ever married?" ”

Zhan Miao replied loudly: "No! ”

"Good!" Empress Dowager Gao smiled: "I have a daughter to be married, who happens to be married to Zhan Zhuangyuan, come here, please go to the county lord to go to the palace." ”

This princess is rewarded with the name of a county, so it is called the county lord, the county lord of Lezhi has obviously been waiting outside the hall, the voice of the summons just fell, she walked up to the hall under the guidance of the palace maid, the phoenix crown Xia batch, a colorful dress, so that the hall seemed to be much brighter, Zhan Miao was full of anticipation to look at the county lord into the hall, but when the county lord passed by him, his face changed, and his face was gloomy.

"Zhan Zhuangyuan, my little girl is beautiful, are you satisfied?" Empress Dowager Gao asked kindly on the throne, she smiled, and her eyes were about to narrow.

Zhan Miao arched his hand and replied, "The minister does not dare to obey the edict." ”

There was an uproar in the hall.

This is according to the marriage, where is the face of the royal family.

Empress Dowager Gao was still smiling, but there was a little more cold taste in her smile, and she asked calmly: "Why...... Can't the mourning family afford to dowry? ”

Zhan Miao replied: "The county lord of Lezhi is pregnant, and the lower officials dare not marry." ”

There was a sudden silence in the main hall.