"Zhiyuan, you kid took a huiyuan without making a sound, hey, I thought this huiyuan was me, I didn't think it was just a third." Li Ying hung his head and said with a big grin, "In vain, I have been studying hard at home for the past six years in order to test the cold window, hey." ”

This imperial examination is the second time since Chongzhen came to power, but it is the first time he personally held it, Chongzhen's first year will still be rampant, and after entering the court, I don't know which side to throw, and that imperial examination Chongzhen has no time to take care of, this time it is different, Chongzhen is eager to find new talents to enrich the imperial court, but also to disrupt the situation in the imperial court, presumably Li Ying knows this, so he directly chose to participate in this year's examination.

This choice is very wise, Ning Zhiyuan glanced at Li Ying with slanted eyes, why didn't he see that this kid was so good at visiting the kiln every day, at least he was much better than himself in writing eight shares, but his luck was not as good as his own

"This time the champion must be you, so I'll try to be a tanhua." Catching a glimpse of Ning Zhiyuan's 'mocking' eyes, Li Yingdo didn't see it, and continued to say sadly, "I think I, Li Yingchang, are handsome and chic, talented, but I still can't pass you, woohoo, there is also a Wu Meicun." ”

"Do you think you can beat me?" Ning Zhiyuan said lightly, and this Li Ying who jumped up and down, his tone of voice was different, "This son's judgment is like that, it is Huiyuan, I can only be helpless, I don't want to."

Li Ying's expression was as if he had eaten 10,000 flies, if it weren't for the conversation with Ning Zhiyuan that day, Li Ying knew that Ning Zhiyuan's judgment was wrong, and he would definitely accept this fact calmly, and now he also accepted it calmly, but what did Ning Zhiyuan mean by saying this?

If he is killed, he will not believe that Ning Zhiyuan's judgment is wrong, unless the judge is dazzled, otherwise in that case, even if the article is written, it will only be a fate of falling off the list, Li Ying is very sure.

Ning Zhiyuan knew that Li Ying may not believe his words, indeed under the current system, although there are many cases of fraud in the imperial examination, but he just gives the main exam some silver, and then gives a good ranking when his article is not bad, this kind of thing of changing test papers is not something that ordinary people dare not think.

Li Dingfang listened to their words and laughed for a long time, he believed Ning Zhiyuan's words, and for Li Ying, Li Dingfang felt a little strange now, if Li Ying was just a scholar who was obsessed with fame, he wouldn't think much about it, but it wasn't quite like it, but no matter what, Li Ying was still very interesting now, he didn't want to think about it more, it was enough to keep some thoughts in his heart.

More than 300 candidates outside the Taihe Hall were waiting to enter the hall, and some familiar scholars came together to talk, guessing what exam questions Chongzhen would make, and the strategies were all exquisite, if it was good in peacetime, there was no need to be foolish, and now the situation of Daming has indeed changed too much, so there are too many possibilities for exam questions.

"This is Ning Huiyuan?" A handsome man suddenly stepped forward and asked, his words were polite, and the expression on his face made it easy to have a good impression, and he smiled brightly.

Ning Daguan glanced at the visitor a little strangely, and asked out loud to a scholar in Tsing Yi, who was very regular. "Who is this?"

"Haha, Ning Gongzi naturally won't know about me waiting." The other laughed.

"But speaking of which, I am fortunate to have a relationship with my son, and now I am the younger sister of the next, Li Cong." The handsome young man said.

"It turned out to be Li Gongzi, that's really a blessing." Ning Zhiyuan said quietly, "The palace test is about to start, if you have anything to say, let's talk about it later."

"That's good, that's good" Li Cong smiled indifferently, and arched his hand again, "Then it's going to be high." ”

Li Cong returned to the crowd again, Ning Daguan looked at his back thoughtfully, Li Dingfang said on the side, "Mrs. is an only daughter, this Li Cong is just Mrs.'s distant cousin, and he is also well-known in Shilin, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and he loves to make friends, and he is knowledgeable. ”

Madame was referring to Li Jinshi.

"Jinling Township test second?" Ning Daguan was puzzled, and then waved his hand to stop Li Dingfang's answer, it is normal for scholars to want to be famous, and Jinling has the greatest reputation in the township test Xie Yuan, if he hadn't intervened in such a thing, then Li Cong would really be Jinling Xie Yuan, interesting, really interesting, Ning Zhiyuan muttered.

Ning Zhiyuan smiled, if this Li Cong was smart, he wouldn't play any tricks, but people who were a little selfish would not have any good impression of him, after all, he was not Li Jinshi's own brother, and he was worried that he would not have any idea of beating the Li family if he was too strong.

Regarding this, Ning Zhiyuan is disdainful, the development of Ningxia Wei has gradually improved, and what kind of cooperative relationship has been formed with the Li family, there will be no shortage of money, money is important, and it is not too important, and it is just like that.

And Li Cong is also left and right.

Li Cong returned to the group of people, although he only said it lightly, but it was undeniable that he still increased a lot of superiority, but he didn't have any happy feeling in his heart, and he was extremely unconvinced, but it was inevitable to take advantage of the situation.

Mo said that he was just a distant nephew of Li Ting, even if he was Li Ting's sister-in-law, his status was not high, the son of a merchant, among the scholars who were also from a poor family, he could overlook all living beings, and in front of a group of eyes, their group of people was not welcomed.

In the past, very few people who talked to him about themselves could participate in the palace examination, and he also knew that there was a cat in it, which was power.

"Brother Li, are you very familiar with Ning Huiyuan?" Someone next to him asked.

Li Cong glanced at the other party with a smile, just now, the son of the nephew of the Ministry of Rites was still disdainful of him, and said in a very humble tone, "It's not that I know each other, it's just that the sister is Ning Huiyuan's wife." ”

"Li Jinyi?" The other party was taken aback, and said with a smile, "It turns out that Brother Li is from the Li family in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, I really didn't expect it." ”

Li Cong laughed on the surface, but in his heart he was scolding his mother, he said at the beginning of the introduction that he was a child of the Li family in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the Li family naturally knew that they were the best businessmen in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but they were still in that posture, because of what? Isn't it because in their eyes, Li Jinshi and the Li family have different concepts, and it has always been common for officials to marry merchant women, but the relationship is not necessarily so good, is this the case? Li Cong didn't know, but he hoped that in the future, Li Jinshi would not have anything to do with the Li family again

The sun outside the hall was dazzling. It was the weather in April, and Li Cong's palms were sweating, what would be the result of this palace test?

A long time ago, Chongzhen asked Ning Zhiyuan a sentence when he was in Ningxiawei, what is the situation of this Ming Dynasty, how to govern it, he said that the emperor is a good emperor, the official is not a good official, he should be broken and then established, and there is a dead eunuch next to him, Gao Qiqian, and Chongzhen's attitude is that he can't do it, it's very difficult, so he can't do it.

But what the hell is the issue in front of us now?

"What is the reason why the country is here, and what can be done about it?"

On the top of the main hall, Ning Zhiyuan sat with everyone, peeked at Chongzhen with his spare eyes, and found that his aging forehead was secretly wrinkled, although it was not obvious, but his eyes blinked at Ning Zhiyuan himself but it could be easily seen, which made Ning Zhiyuan stunned, and he couldn't cry or laugh.

It's just that this question is a little difficult for him, although these officials don't treat him very well, and they also secretly make some small moves, but they also know that Chongzhen values himself very much now, so at least at this time it seems to be quite harmonious, if he writes down what he said to Chongzhen before on paper, or in front of everyone, then they will have to merge into one to block themselves anyway

What he did was to let Chongzhen kill or spare them in front of them, if he was still silent, he would be sick, maybe even Wen Tiren would stand up and fight him, so he was entangled.

Not only him, but everyone below is also entangled, to be honest, Chongzhen's problem is very vague, the current court problem of the Ming Dynasty is there, there can be many kinds of theories, the Northwest natural disaster, the Shaanxi civil uprising, the most important corrupt officials of the Tartars are rampant, bullying the upper and lower, they really dare not say it, and they may not think about it.

But just the first few aspects made them very vague, and time passed slowly, and everyone started to write after thinking for a while.

Ning Zhiyuan is not afraid of the siege of these officials, and he also knows that if he writes these things, Chongzhen will appoint himself as the champion, but he doesn't want to make trouble for himself, and Chongzhen's practice of using him as a striker of the death squad makes him a little uncomfortable, can he still sit down and have a good talk?

No way, write it, Ning Daguan sighed in his heart, who made Chongzhen the emperor now, he is just a candidate for the imperial examination, unlike other candidates, Ning Zhiyuan knows what he wants to write, that is what Chongzhen wants.

Chongzhen needs a breakthrough point, perhaps, things will no longer go as they did before history, to be able to do this kind of thing, it means that Chongzhen has changed a little, if he really makes up his mind to choose to break and then stand, then the direction of Daming may not be able to say, Ning Zhiyuan doesn't know whether he should be happy or sad.

But the entanglement is certain, if he can live a long life, then he doesn't have to worry about anything, just watch the situation change, but he doesn't seem to live long, and this uncertain factor makes him a little uneasy.

Chongzhen watched Ning Zhiyuan start to write down something, his face eased, and his brows stretched a lot, he finally made such a decision this time.

The grain after last year's autumn harvest was harvested, Chongzhen still remembered the exact number, one million nine hundred thousand taels, which was 200,000 taels less than last year, which made him a little dissatisfied, maybe he thought that this number was nothing, but since Shen Qian gave him one hundred thousand taels, he was extremely dissatisfied with this number.

According to what Shen Qian said, he is just a small businessman, there are countless businessmen who are bigger than him in the Ming Dynasty, and a businessman in a remote place in the northwest can still do that kind of thing, and take out 100,000 taels of silver casually, so how rich is the Ming Dynasty, why is the annual treasury income only so little, and even the military expenditure of Liaodong is not enough?

Speaking of which, the soldiers in the nine border towns have always been a little special, and when the soldiers in other regions can't get their salaries, they can also get some, although it is not enough, but it can definitely make them not have any thoughts of deserting and rebelling, and their lives have been so improvised.

But this year in Ningxia, Chongzhen did not allocate a tael of silver, although it was Ning Zhiyuan's own request, but Chongzhen will inevitably feel a little guilty and grateful to the Ningxia Army in his heart, and the actions on the Mongolian steppe also made him feel a crisis, and there was no silver for Lin Dan Khan, and the position of Ningxia Wei was becoming more and more important, perhaps not inferior to Jinzhou in Liaodong.

Under great pressure, Chongzhen made a choice, this imperial examination is the best time to cultivate henchmen, Zhou Yanru is the main examiner, but he is already the only one, so these scholars and candidates are his strength.

Zhou Yanru was collecting the answer sheet, speaking of Ning Zhiyuan's words is not outstanding, it can only be regarded as average, as a modern person, it is just his hobby to be able to write calligraphy, naturally he can't write these ancients as professional, in Zhou Yanru's eyes, the font or anything is no longer important, but the content really shocked him.

His hands began to tremble, and he glanced at Chongzhen, and found that Chongzhen was looking at him at this time, which made him suddenly understand in his heart that this was what Chongzhen meant.

Zhou Yanru was shocked again after a few breaths, looked at a scholar sitting quietly in front of him, and snorted heavily, he was not as polite to others as Ning Zhiyuan, which made Li Cong, who was sitting in a precarious position, tremble, and his face stiffened, and slowly returned to normal.

Everyone's eyes looked at Li Cong with some surprise, they didn't know what was going on, and there was a lot of schadenfreude, Zhou Shoufu's appearance, presumably Li Cong's answer sheet was very angry, it seemed that high school was hopeless.

"If the official is not right, it will harm one party, His Royal Highness should be aware of everything and strictly rectify the law" This is Li Cong's answer.

"Woohoo corrupt officials, deceive superiors and subordinates, corrupt officials bend the law, do all evil, break and then establish Zhongxing Daming" This is Ning Zhiyuan's answer.

Zhou Yanru's face was ugly, and the officials next to him didn't know what was going on, could it be that there were a large number of candidates in the answer sheet for Zhou Yanru? For a moment, their thoughts fluttered.

Chongzhen's face became more and more comfortable when he looked at the answer sheet, and the speed of reading it was fast, which made the hearts of all the candidates cold, it seemed that most of them did not talk about the emperor's heart, and they couldn't help but be full of confusion about the future

And Li Cong's mind began to become active, his face was still a little pale, he knew that this was his only chance, if he was valued by Chongzhen, it would not be a problem, and he would avoid the hardships of climbing up step by step, because there is no one more powerful than Chongzhen in the world.

This time the question was unexpected, but after thinking about it for a while, he wrote about it anyway, which was very risky, and if it didn't work, he had to do it

Fortunately, things don't seem to be very bad.

Among so many candidates, the chief official Ning is the most calm. (To be continued.) )