From the Shence Gate in the north of Nanjing City, go out and walk for more than 20 miles, and you will arrive at the first rock of the Yangtze River, Jinling Yanzi Rock, which is famous for retreating.

Zhidu Mountain is more than ten zhang high, stretches into the river surface from the shore, the strange peak is abrupt on the river, three sides are empty, the momentum is like a swallow spreading its wings and wants to fly, so it is named swallow rock. It connects the river bank in the south, the other three sides are surrounded by the river water, the terrain is very dangerous, the rugged mountain rock spreads its wings like a flying swallow, the mighty river is like a long snake coiled, the scenery is magnificent.

Yanziji was originally a ferry port that communicates the north and south of the river, when Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty went south to Jinling, it was from here that he landed, and there is still an iron cable hanging through the stone on the hanging wall, so it is said that the old legend is the boat place of the military division Liu Bowen.

In the past two hundred years, the ferry has been moved from here to the densely populated Qinhuai River estuary more than 20 miles away, and the Yangtze River sailors have moved to Dangtu and Wuhu in the upper reaches, and Jiangyin and Guabu in the lower reaches.

So now Yanziji is desolate, there are few pedestrians on the stone path, the pavilion is full of wild grass, and there are a few crows standing on the ancient trees, and the piercing scraping sound makes this place a little bleak and desolate.

Qin Lin rode the snow and ran extremely fast, leaving Lu Yuanzhi and Niu vigorously behind, and when he arrived at the destination, he found that the famous Yanziji was such a desolate and dilapidated scene.

The four sons of Jinling have arrived, and the servants of each family have arranged tables and chairs, cups, plates, dishes and other things, and Jia Zixu supervised a few small servants and set up a light gauze curtain.

Seeing Qin Lin coming, they laughed and pointed, presumably not saying anything good in their mouths.

Qin Lin had no interest in these people, walking alone along the path full of wild grass, and unconsciously walked to an extremely desolate place, and suddenly saw a piece of ground with barren grass lying down in a radius of several feet, and couldn't help but wonder in his heart, with his professional habits, his instinctive reaction was to squat on the ground and observe the footprints.

"If you say that you are a merchant, there are no rut marks and mule and horseshoe prints, if you say that you are a large family of travelers, but the footprints are all young and middle-aged men: the footprints are large and the stride is wide, and they are obviously men: the forefoot is deep and the heel is shallow, which belongs to the young and middle-aged people; The presence of fine mud slag on the front edge of the footprint "indicates that the owner has a light and strong gait, and even has some special training............

Is it a gang of outcasts" or robbers?

Qin Lin had a doubt in his heart, and walked back along the original road, the fourth prince of Jinling and Jia Zixu walked down from Yanziji, and bumped into several people head-on, Wang Shiqi shook his head and said loudly: "How can fish eyes be pearls?" Basil is not a habit. Today's Yanziji Jinling Poetry Club "Chief Qin does not go to the martial arts arena and the hundred households, but comes to the poetry meeting to mix, isn't it suspected of being confused?" ”

The so-called four sons of Jinling are just a few sour things in Qin Lin's heart, and he doesn't take these few in his eyes at all, and he just smiles when he hears the words: "I really don't know much about the way of poetry, this Jinling poetry club didn't want to come, but it was only because of the invitation of close friends, and it was difficult to be warm, so I took this trip." ”

Friend? Wang Shiqi's eyes blinked, and he said with a smile: "It must be the unruly lady of the Wei State Mansion, right?" "The princes of Wei have been resting with the country for generations, how many commanders and commanders in Nanjing can't be tucked up, Brother Qin can climb, but he can make steady progress" It is natural to be a thousand households or something in the future. ”

Gu Xiancheng, Gao Panlong, and Jia Zixu were all smiling, and their disdain was overflowing.

Liu Huanzhi lost face twice in Zuifenglou and Tianxiang Pavilion, and hated Qin Lin the most, and felt that Wang Shidie's words had the upper hand, and said with a gun and a stick: "Brother Qin said that he is not very particular about the way of poetry, presumably he has studied and practiced his profession, and he has some experience in Bagu?" "The great tomorrow is heavy on articles, why do you need to talk about the Han and Tang Dynasties" We are not as good as Brother Qin in terms of learning! ”

Everyone sneered in unison, knowing that Qin Lin, a military attaché, knew what eight shares? Furthermore, who can overshadow Nanjing Township to try to solve Yuan Gu Xiancheng in the eight shares?

The so-called talents, in fact, are people who sit in the well and watch the sky, Qin Lin really had no intention of arguing with them, but he suddenly had a feeling: "Eight strands and poems are not bad as tools for cultivating morality and sentiment, but from the court to Shilin, they all focus on eight strands, which does not seem to be very appropriate." For example, state and county officials, when dealing with financial and tax contributions, arithmetic is more useful than eight shares, and when investigating and handling criminal cases, criminal names are also more useful than eight shares, and some officials I have seen in Huguang are very familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics and Zhu Ziji's notes, but they are stubborn and confused when they start a lawsuit......

Qin Lin's words went straight to the core of the Eight Selections, and the fourth prince was stunned for a while, only to feel that his statement was deviant, but it was not easy to refute it. ,

Gu Xiancheng and Gao Panlong were still pondering, Liu Huanzhi couldn't hold his breath, and argued strongly: "If the Bagu article is done well, you will know the study of the sage, and the virtue of the Tao is always superhuman: as for the small things such as criminal names and taxes, they have their own criminal name master, Qian Gu master and Liufang Shushu to take care of them, and the state and county officials only need to be honest and self-controlled, so why bother with it!" ”

Gu Xiancheng frowned, and Gao Panlong didn't open his mouth, they all felt that Liu Huanzhi's words were a bit close to a scoundrel.

Only Wang Shiqi nodded in agreement and spoke loudly for Liu Huanzhi. , the father of the family should be Tianfu Yin, adhering to the four words of the political Qing Dynasty and the criminal Jane, the official only needs to be sincere, keep the heavenly reason, and blame the desires, the officials are not afraid of my strictness and fear of my integrity, the people do not obey my ability and obey my father, the public is the people dare not be slow, and the officials dare not bully, and the land under their jurisdiction is of course governed. ”

Qin Lin shook his head and smiled bitterly: "According to your statement, the officials of the imperial court should let Mr. Daoxue do it." The Criminal Department, Dali Temple, the Metropolitan Procuratorate and even the Judicial Department can all be canceled, because according to a few old men, the state and county chiefs are all honest and sincere "Dao" moral gentlemen will naturally not have any problems in the case, since there are no unjust cases, why set up so many yamen to review?

Taiyue Xianggong does not need to promulgate any "Examination Law", let alone do any Beijing inspection, external planning, all of them are changed to the "Tao" moral articles of the examination officials, and the inventory of acres can also be suspended, everyone is a sincere gentleman, how can he hide it? ”

Wang Shiqi was about to refute it, but suddenly his heart moved: Zhang Juzheng, the first assistant, does not need to be a clean official but uses a capable official, everyone knows that Qin Lin's words are similar to him!

His father Wang Shizhen was angry that Zhang Juzheng was dismissed, and because he wrote words to flatter Zhang Juzheng and reverted to Ying Tianfu Yin, Wang Shiqi was afraid that what he said would be spread by others and become his own way of opposing Zhang Juzheng's employment, which would not be good.

So he quickly shut his mouth and didn't say a word.

Liu Huanzhi was furious, he couldn't care about the dignity of the talented man and scolded him in his mouth, Qin Lin said that he was abolishing the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Inspectorate, he said that he was farting, Qin Lin said that Zhang Juzheng why did he have to issue the examination law and measure the acres of land, he also said that he was farting, but it seemed to scold Zhang Juzheng for farting.

"Why did Brother Liu use foul language? The self-proclaimed talent, his demeanor is not as good as Brother Qin. One of the martial artists, "Hmph, such a talented ......"

Everyone was startled, and turned to see that it was Zhang Maoxiu who spoke, and Zhang Jingxiu pulled his brother's sleeve and smiled a little embarrassed.

It turned out that Zhang Jingxiu and Zhang Maoxiu also rode fast horses, unlike the Manchu officials of later generations who liked to ride the sedan chair, the Ming Dynasty believed that the sedan chair was used instead of cattle and horses, and "people were animals" violated the way of heaven.

When they came over, they heard Liu Juzhi scolding Qin Lin, and it was as if he was scolding Huai and scolding Zhang Juzheng, and Liu Juzhi's father Liu Yiru and Zhang Juzheng disagreed......

Thinking of this, Zhang Maoxiu suspected that Liu Huan's words were pointed, and stood up and angrily reprimanded, but Zhang Jingxiu, who was more stable, didn't stop him if he wanted to.

Wang Shiqi was taken aback, his father Wang Shizhen was once bitten by a snake for ten years and was afraid of the well rope, he was still high-spirited when he was young, and he became more and more cautious when he got old, Wang Shidi was also deeply affected, at this time he was afraid that the two sons of the Prime Minister's Mansion would misunderstand, so he quickly picked himself out: "Brother Liu is indeed excessive, what Jiangling Xiangguo took and Brother Qin said is that we can "read the study of the sage, and morality" All officials must wait for both. ”

Gu Xianchengxiang tried to get Xie Yuan, and he still wanted to be admitted to the Jinshi, but he didn't dare to offend the two Zhang Gongzi: Gao Panlong has always been the only eldest brother Gu Xiancheng, and these two also hurriedly helped Wang Shiqi, saying that Liu Jizhi was not.

Qin Lin was laughing so hard that his mouth was about to laugh crookedly, the direction of the wind was changing so fast......

As everyone knows, Liu Huanzhi is a beautiful man, and he is very talented, and he has a father who is a waiter in the criminal department, so he is usually gentle and elegant in face, but he is extremely proud and arrogant in his bones, and he was suddenly robbed by Zhang Maoxiu, and his friends also helped others to speak, and he couldn't take care of it when he was angry, and said with his eyes open: "Brother Zhang, Ling Zun's father does not approve of it, the so-called Tao is not the same, but I still want to advise you, some traitors and villains who do not learn and have no skills, it is better to stay away!" ”

Zhang Maoxiu is not good at stubble, and stood beside Qin Lin: "Brother Qin was invited by me, if you are not happy, let's go!" ”

Zhang Jingxiu hurriedly persuaded his younger brother not to be rash, Jia Zixu also nodded and helped to persuade him, Gu, Wang, and the third prince of Gao looked at Qin Lin in surprise, not understanding how this little brocade cloth Baihu befriended the prince of Xiangfu, Wang Shiqi even bowed his hand to Qin Lin flatteringly, hoping that he would not care about the previous dirtiness.

The third prince pushed Liu Huanzhi away, and he said loudly: "I don't marry the daughter of the Prime Minister's Mansion, and I don't know if I was born like the unruly lady of the Wei Mansion, my Liu family is innocent, and I can't afford to be said by others to be a powerful person!" ”

Zhang Maoxiu was so angry that he gritted his teeth, if it wasn't for his brother Zhang Jingxiu catching him, I'm afraid he would have rushed up to fight.

Qin Lin laughed evilly, his smile was very weird, because at the foot of the hill, Xu Xinyi was riding a jade lion in the night, staring at Liu Huanzhi viciously: and another beautiful woman with a beautiful and fragrant country also walked out of the sedan chair at the same time, and looked at this side with a slight frown. ~！