The imperial examination of the imperial court was set for October of the third year of Guangxi.

The edict issued in July and the exam in October only had three months to prepare for the world's corporals, and many scholars did not have time to rush to the capital. However, the biggest reason is that the road problem cannot be solved because of the chaos of war. The only people who could come to the capital to take the exam were scholars from the Sili Prefecture area and the surrounding counties of Yingchuan and Chenliu.

But it doesn't matter, for Liu Bian, this imperial examination is just a pilot. Since the imperial examination was created from scratch, there will naturally be a process of development and experimentation, and if it is done well, Liu Wei will inevitably make it a regular practice.

In the court, almost as Xi Zhicai guessed, almost no one in the court objected to Liu Bianke's edict. Few ministers said that this move was not in line with the ancestral system, but they were soft-spoken, and no one took their words seriously at all.

Those who can speak, such as Yuan Kui, Yang Biao, and Huang Wan, the heavyweights in the court, have all closed their minds on this matter. Not only that, but these people enthusiastically appeared on the table one by one, hoping to contribute to the imperial examination. Although they can also see the influence of the imperial examination on the interests of their wealthy families, they also see that the imperial examination is a grand event in the world, and everyone in the world is happy about it. I know that it is useless to oppose it, so I want to participate in it and reap a benefit.

Liu Wei has always adopted the principle of interest exchange for Yuan Kui, a family of door lords in the court, and constantly engaged in compromise and balance, but this time he unexpectedly did not buy their accounts at all, but ordered Lu Zhi and Cai Yong to be responsible for the imperial examination. Naturally, what is good can come to one's own people first.

The reason why he did this was because in the past, Liu Wei was on the throne of the first place, and his foundation was not solid and he lacked experience. In political affairs, it is necessary to rely on Yuan Kui, Yang Biao, Huang Wan and others, and militarily it is necessary to rely on Lu Zhi, Huangfu Song and others. And now Liu Wei has been trained for about two years since he ascended the throne, and his foundation is very solid, with military power in hand, government affairs are proficient, and with the assistance of Lu Zhi, Xun Yu and other famous ministers, he has lost his dependence and patience for Yuan Kui, Yang Biao and others.

For the current Liu Bian, if these people can be obedient and obedient, he is also willing to stage a drama of getting along with the monarch and the minister, and everyone will die well. But Yuan Kui must not let go. This old boy didn't have a good heart from the beginning.

Yuan Kui, Yang Biao and others touched a gray nose at Liu Wei's place, and had to go home dejected and sulk. Yuan Kui is a person who is absolutely unwilling to fail, and as soon as he returns home, he immediately gathers his henchmen to discuss matters together.

Among the Yuan family's henchmen, some people have already smelled the smell of the Yuan family's sunset and the western mountains, and some wall grasses have begun to think differently, and some die-hard elements are still enthusiastic, but they can't say that they are ugly.

Seeing this situation, Yuan Kui sighed slightly in his heart. These people in front of them are easy to put on the cake, but it is difficult to send charcoal in the snow. There are no real people who can come up with ideas.

From this, he couldn't help but think of Ma Riyan and Wang Yun, having him by his side was a great help. It's just that both of them were transferred out of the capital by Liu Wei, and Ma Riyan was deliberately estranged from him.

Thinking of this, Yuan Kui shook his head helplessly, waved his hand and dispersed the crowd, meditating alone in a huge hall.

Nephew Yuan Ji walked in, bowed down and said, "Uncle, nephew Yuan Ji is polite." ”

Yuan Kui looked up and saw that Yuan Ji was coming, and said happily: "Sit down, sit down, I have something to discuss with you these days!" ”

Yuan Ji is handsome, gentle and elegant, and he is a servant of the court, and he is also one of the nine kings, and he is in a high position. Yuan Kui's side now has to rely on him.

Yuan Ji knelt aside and asked, "Uncle is worried about the affairs of the court?" ”

Yuan Kui nodded and said, "I originally wanted to be a loyal courtier and assist the young master. Unexpectedly, the Son of Heaven appointed traitors, pressing step by step, it was really chilling. ”

Yuan Ji is his own person, and Yuan Kui naturally doesn't have so many scruples in front of him.

Yuan Ji naturally knew that Yuan Kui was upset by the imperial court's imperial examination, and he had no good way to stop it. I had to comfort Yuan Kui and said: "Uncle doesn't need to be discouraged, the Son of Heaven is young and doesn't know loyalty and treachery, so it's not surprising that he was confused by villains for a while." The uncle is the minister of the emperor's posthumous edict, and he can do Huo Guang's ability, support the young master, and support Sheji. All the ministers in the court are looking at their uncle's horse's head, and outside the court, the highway, the first south and the north are helping the uncle. Although there are some difficulties, they will inevitably be resolved. ”

Yuan Ji's words made Yuan Kui feel a little at ease, and now the two Yuan brothers are doing well in the local area, as if they have a tendency to divide the territory. Yuan Kui also understood that it was precisely because the little emperor was afraid of Yuan Shao's strength in the local area that he did not attack himself easily.

However, today's young son of heaven is by no means an ordinary character, and he has fought with him several times in the court, and none of them have been bargained. Now that the little emperor is growing in his wings, he can no longer control him in the court, and he has no strong allies around him to help, and his heart is becoming more and more afraid.

Yuan Ji saw that his uncle was still worried, and there was nothing else to comfort him, thinking of the intention of coming to Yuan Kui's Mansion today, he had to change the topic and said: "Xun Ci will leave Beijing tomorrow and return to his hometown, and the princes in Beijing will discuss going to see him off, can my uncle go with him?" ”

Xun Ciming is Xun Shuang, a famous man in the world, and the patriarch of the Yingchuan Xun family. The status and influence of the Yingchuan Xun clan in the scholar clan should not be underestimated, and most of the children of the clan are officials in the court, such as Xun Yu, Xun Yue, Xun You and others, and they are an emerging gate valve force in the court. The Yuan family had won over the Xun family a long time ago, and Yuan Feng recommended Xun Shuang as an official, but Xun Shuang resigned.

After the fall of the ten permanent servants, Xun Shuang came out as an official, first as a plain minister, and then as Guangluxun. In May last year, he suffered from a serious illness, but fortunately, the miracle doctor Hua Tuo applied medicine to treat him in time. However, his health was not very good after all, so he resigned due to illness.

Originally, Xun Shuang had been recuperating in the capital, but he didn't expect to return to Yingchuan at this time.

Yuan Kui thought that the little emperor's imperial examination decree also had a great impact on the Yingchuan clan like the Xun family, and if the Xun family could win it, it would be a great help to him.

Thinking of this, Yuan Kui hurriedly ordered someone to prepare a carriage and rushed to Xun Shuang's mansion with Yuan Ji.

************

Liu Wei hadn't seen Liu Xie for a long time, he was busy with government affairs, and he went to Chang'an and spent nearly half a year quelling the Xiliang rebellion.

When I saw Liu Xie again, his appearance had gradually shed the immaturity of a child and became more and more mature.

The two brothers set up a game of chess in the bamboo forest of Maolong Garden, and Liu Xie originally proposed to play Go, but Liu Wei, who knew that he was not good at Go, changed to chess. As a result, after the two fought, Liu Wei found that Liu Xie's chess strength in chess was also very good.

This made Liu Wei a little depressed, chess was brought into this era by him, but now everyone is better than himself, even Wei Yi's chess skills are above him, and Liu Xie, who is younger than himself, can now be inseparable from his own killing.

After playing two sets in a row, Liu Wei lost both. In the third game, Liu Xie felt a little embarrassed, and deliberately let Liu argue. It's just that Liu Xie's chess strength has not yet reached the heat after all, so the chess concession is very obvious, Liu Wei is dissatisfied, and his interest in playing chess is not high.

Liu Wei was not angry with Liu Xie in his heart, Liu Xie did not do this because he was afraid of himself or flattery, but because he loved himself. Otherwise, he would have let himself go from the beginning, and he would not have won two sets in a row. (People like Xun Yu, Zhong Xuan, and others always let themselves go at the beginning, and their chess skills are so good that Liu Wei won't notice until after the fact.) ）

Noticing Liu Bian's intentions, Liu Xie also felt that this game of chess was a little boring, so he lost the chess, the two withdrew the chessboard, and Liu Bian ordered Huangmen to make tea and chat.

Nowadays, the hottest topic in the Han Empire is the imperial examination, and the two naturally talk about it.

Liu Xie expressed his approval of Liu Bian's opening of the imperial examination, and he would give unconditional support to everything that could maintain the stability of the Liu family. In his words: "When the country is in danger, Your Majesty should do extraordinary things to rejuvenate the Han Dynasty and reorganize the rivers and mountains." ”

Liu Wei was very happy about Liu Xie's support, but he was difficult for Liu Xie's next request.

"Do you want to participate in this imperial examination?" Liu Wei asked.

Liu Xie nodded.

"Over the years, my brother has also read a lot of books, and he has been carefully taught by his teacher, and he has also gained a lot of experience. The emperor's brother opened the imperial examination to take the scholars, and the talents from all walks of life gathered in the capital to evaluate the level of talent and learning, so the courtiers also wanted to try their own knowledge. ”

Liu Wei felt a little ridiculous, Liu Xie was just a boy, but he was also eager to participate in the imperial examination, and the morale of the young scholar was quite high. However, there is indeed no age limit for this imperial examination. According to Liu Wei's understanding, there are really elderly people who are nearly half a hundred years old to participate. Therefore, it will not be unusual for Liu Xie to participate as a boy.

However, out of the psychology of caring for this little brother, Liu Wei did not want Liu Xie to participate in the imperial examination. But Liu Wei also understood that if he stopped him on the grounds of Liu Xie's age, Liu Xie would definitely move out of Gan Luola, Xiang Lu and other characters to argue.

Thinking of this, Liu Wei decided to dissuade Liu Xie from another angle.

"The assistant brother is a royal noble, if he participates in the imperial examination, I am afraid that the examiner will give him a high ranking due to the identity of the assistant brother, and then he will not be able to show the real talent of the assistant brother."

Liu Xie shook his head and said: "Duke Lu and Duke Cai are both famous Confucians in the world, how can they favor me for personal gain!" ”

Liu Wei persuaded again: "Although Lu Gong and they will not show favoritism to you, but everyone is golden, and the three of them become tigers, if the ranking of the assistant brother is really among the best, some people will inevitably think that there is a fake in it, and it will also have an impact on the reputation of the assistant brother." ”

Liu Xie's brows couldn't help but tighten when he heard this, and he muttered: "If I knew this, I wouldn't have been born in this rich gate." ”

If Emperor Ling or Empress Dowager Dong were beside him, he would have been angry at the beginning, but Liu Wei just smiled slightly, patted Liu Xie's shoulder and said: "Actually, Brother Xie's talent is outstanding, and everyone recognizes it, so why fight for the first place with others." ”

Liu Xie knew that Liu Wei was just comforting himself. In fact, he wanted to participate in the imperial examination, not because he was conceited and wanted to wrestle with others, but because he saw that after Liu Wei succeeded to the throne, he was the Xiliang Rebellion, and the Hanqiang Peace Talks, and now he is still advocating the imperial examination, doing things that no one has done before, and all kinds of measures are impressive. At this time, he couldn't bear to prove his thoughts, and in his heart, he not only regarded Liu Wei as a big brother, but also regarded him as an object he wanted to surpass.

Seeing Liu Xie's annoyance, Liu Wei lowered his head and pondered, thinking that he had given up the idea of participating in the imperial examination, but who knew that Liu Xie's eyes suddenly lit up, and he seemed to have thought of an idea again.

"Brother Huang, I can participate in the imperial examination under a pseudonym, and no one will know my identity by then. Besides, I just look at the rankings, and I don't want to be an official, so there shouldn't be any problems. ”

Unexpectedly, Liu Association came up with such an idea, and Liu Wei was dumbfounded for a while. In particular, in order to have more talents on the Internet, in the spirit of meritocracy, regardless of background and family background, the identity verification of scholars who come to participate in the imperial examination is not very strict, and it is not very difficult to do it if Liu Xie fabricates an identity to confuse the past.

Seeing that Liu Wei was silent, Liu Xie felt that there was hope for this matter, so he immediately pulled up Liu Wei's sleeve and begged in a low voice: "Brother Bianhuang, you just promised me, just this once." ”

Looking at Liu Xie's shining big eyes and a wistful gaze, Liu Wei was completely defeated by this cute world. Nodding in agreement to let go.

Liu Xie almost cheered. Fortunately, he restrained his emotions, gave Liu Weishen a salute, and said, "Thank you, Brother Huang!" ”

Liu Wei couldn't help but laugh when he saw that he couldn't help but be happy.

Liu Xie got permission to participate in the imperial examination, but who knew that he had to make an inch, and made another request:

"Brother Bianhuang, it's still early at this time, why don't we go out of the palace and see how the scholars who entered Beijing to participate in the imperial examination are demeanor?"

Liu Wei was speechless, Liu Xie really had a lot of requests!

However, Liu Wei also understood in his heart that Liu Xie had been deeply influenced by the feudal etiquette system since he was a child, and his every move had to conform to the norms, and when Emperor Ling or Empress Dowager Dong was there, there was no personal freedom at all. And after he succeeded to the throne, although Liu Xie had a certain amount of freedom, the etiquette education of his childhood was still there, and he still couldn't easily do those things that were contrary to his identity.

Only when Liu Wei was by his side, Liu Xie lived like a child of his age, Liu Wei knew that it was not easy for him, and he did not want to disappoint him at this time, and because he was busy with government affairs after he succeeded to the throne, he did not leave the palace a few times, if he came to a private visit to Emperor Guangxi's microservice, it would be interesting.

After thinking about it, Liu Wei nodded and agreed to Liu Xie's request, ordered Zhang Tao to prepare the carriage, and he and Liu Xie changed into civilian clothes, and left the Dragon Park in the carriage.

To be continued, stay tuned for the next chapter.