In the twentieth year of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, there were at least tens of thousands of officials in the Tang Dynasty, and as for the candidates who were being candidates, whether they were born in the shade of the door, the imperial examination, or other channels, there were more than 100,000 to say the least. Therefore, there are many monks and few porridges, there are an outlier like Du Shiyi, who have been in the office for eight terms in the past eleven or two years, and there are ordinary people who can only be officials for one or two terms for decades. Therefore, every time they are elected, groveling in front of the chief secretary just to seek a beauty deficiency abounds. At least Lin Yongmo, who has been an official in the three provinces for a long time, rarely heard that there was a person who asked what he wanted when he was annotating, but he said that he could choose someone from the south and the north to the north.

Faced with this answer, Du Shiyi looked at the thin middle-aged man thoughtfully, and suddenly asked: "You were born in the Ming Dynasty, and you were the first secretary of the province, and the reason why you degraded the Longgang Lieutenant of Xingzhou was because you were tired of losing the books of the secretary province. As a secretary, it is your responsibility to proofread books, but you lost them, what do you have to say about that? ”

"At that time, the secretary of the ministry was ordered to collect books from all over the private households, and I was among them. However, in order to requisition a volume of the "Book of Songs" allegedly annotated by the sage Confucius himself, because his father pushed and shoved in every possible way, the county office actually fabricated the unfinished crime of servitude and sent his son to prison for the crime. I tried to no avail, but in the end, my father hanged himself and his son died of illness in prison. After all, it was a felony to privately enter the bamboo slips in the secretary's provincial collection, but thanks to the crime of the county office of Guangping County at that time, he was able to only degrade Longgang Wei. ”

In the past, Du Shiyi had asked Chibi to investigate, and at this moment, listening to this bland tone, he couldn't help but sigh secretly that even in the prosperous era, the people didn't know how many dark sides of the road were covered up like this. Not to mention anything else, Emperor Taizong didn't run out of means for a volume of Lanting Preface? Therefore, he couldn't help but be silent for a while, and then continued to ask: "Then after that, you transferred from Longgang to Weizhou, and once you were re-elected Changle Cheng and Weizhou Sihu to join the army, why did Changle Cheng have two middle schools and two middle schools in the performance appraisal, but the performance of Weizhou Sihu in the army is very different?" Look at what is written in this exam book, in the first two years, one up and one in the middle school, and in the last two years, there are two middle and lower? ”

Talking about the old things, Zhao Kangnian was still neither humble nor arrogant, and said after arching his hand: "After the expiration of the term of Longgang Lieutenant, I will keep the election period expires, and then I will be awarded Changle Cheng. After Yuwen made Jun return to the court, the river dredging has been completed, my term of office expired, and Liu Envoy Jun, who took over the history of Weizhou Thorn, took me as the division of Hu Cao, but he lost his account books, so he gave me two middle and lower exams. ”

"What do you have to say about the loss of the book this time?"

"I" Zhao Kangnian didn't expect Du Shiyi to ask so carefully, although he had vaguely heard that Du Shiyi and Yu Wenrong had a close relationship, but he didn't dare to believe it when he was in the field, and he opened his mouth to explain at this moment, but Yu Wenrong was dead, and it was useless to say these hidden feelings to people, he finally lowered his head, "This is my negligence, I have nothing to say." ”

"There is a huge difference in your performance, although there are negligences in each office, but in Weizhou, there has been a river work virtue, the name of the fairness of the household, now since you say that the south and the north can be, I note that you will join the army for Pengzhou

This should have been Lin Yongmo's words to Zhao Kangnian, but at this moment Zhao Kangnian found that Du Shiyi asked him personally, and the official position he noted was nothing else, but it was Pengzhou who joined the army, although Pengzhou was not conspicuous among the many large states in the southwest, but it was next to the Yizhou Metropolitan Governor's Mansion where the Jiannan Jiedu envoy was located, and he was completely stunned for a while.

Even if he didn't have much hope for this election, he still couldn't help but ask, "Why did the chief secretary entrust me with such a heavy responsibility?" ”

"What I value is that you have personally presided over the water control in Weizhou for three years. Although Shuzhong is rich, but the water has been often a disaster, and now there is a discussion of repairing the tail weir in the court. Since the Qin period Li Bing and his son built the weir, the Han Dynasty once set up the water rafters and the water chief, the Shu Han Dynasty set up the weir official, and then the successive dynasties, has been the weir body has been expanded and repaired, especially during the Zhenguan period of Gao Gong Ren Yizhou Governor History, it is repeatedly expanded and repaired. I note that you, a man who is proficient in water conservancy, will go to Pengzhou to serve as a recorder and join the army, in the hope that you will be able to make a difference when he repairs the weir in the future."

As soon as these words came out, Zhao Kangnian's heart suddenly became hot. Although Yuwenrong promoted him, there are not many people who Yuwenrong has praised or promoted in the local area, and most of them have no personal friends, but because he is the person appointed by Yuwenrong, Yuwenrong was secretly suppressed when he returned to him, not to mention after Yuwenrong dismissed the prime minister. If it weren't for the fact that he had been reduced because of the upper and lower examinations, the Liu Thorn Shi in Weizhou would not dare to risk the world's disapproval to give him the upper examination, and he could only give two middle and lower exams to the cold people, and he would not have been able to participate in the election again as a candidate after serving for two years. However, today's chief scholar, Du Shiyi, was able to notice that he was good at water conservancy among so many people

"Du Zhongshu ......" Zhao Kangnian actually forgot to choose the annotation for a while, and he was all called the chief director, and his throat was a little choked. He took a step back and solemnly bowed deeply to the ground, "I will definitely live up to expectations"

"Good, go ahead."

After the last selection was completed this morning, Du Shiyi stretched his waist, and when he turned his head, he found that Ling Shi Yongmo's face was different. He knew that his expectations for Zhao Kangnian were heard by this person, and he was afraid that he would have a different taste in his heart, but he didn't explain, but just said with a pun: "I am born to be useful, just like you, who have been engaged in case writing in the three provinces and six departments for more than ten years, even if you are a brilliant scholar, you can't beat you in the things you are familiar with." Since I am fortunate to be able to preside over an election, I should make the best use of my resources and talents."

Lin Yongmo was originally grateful because of Du Shiyi's attention, but at this moment, he was even more impressed, and he couldn't say a word for a while.

This time, there are three annotations within nine days, and it is also a locked courtyard, and all the chief directors must stay in this Shangshu Province until the nine-day annotations are completed, and then they can go home. Most of the tired court bigwigs only cared about eating, and they didn't have the strength to speak, and most of them only mentioned how many people had been annotated in the morning, and the answers were varied. The fastest has completed two-thirds of today's more than 80 candidates, while the slowest has only completed more than 30 people. This time, Du Shiyi's results are exactly in the middle, neither outstanding nor lagging behind.

And not long after the afternoon note began, Du Shiyi met another person on Yu Wenrong's list. is different from Zhao Kangnian, who is obviously square, Fang Yan, who was born in a poor family, is not simple, but informal. He looked a little unruly in his old clothes, and as soon as he entered the door, he sang a big song, and then gushed about his resume.

Less than thirty and has already experienced three terms of officials, this seems to be considerable in ordinary people, however, Lieutenant Lang of Shannan West Dao, Balingcheng of Yuezhou of Jiangnan West Dao, and Fa Cao of Yangzhou participated in the military, and like Zhao Kangnian, he was naturally not a person with a smooth sailing career.

After listening to this guy talk for a quarter of an hour, and listening to the endless numbers dizzy, Du Shiyi waved his hand as if he couldn't stand it and said, "Okay, stop, you stop first." ”

Seeing that this talkative guy was a little reluctant to stop talking, he asked thoughtfully: "Listening to what you just said, the various figures cited are very detailed, but I remember that you are from the Ming Classics, not the Ming Mathematics Sect, right?" ”

Such a sentence seemed to poke Fang Yan's sore spot, and he changed color for a while, and instinctively opened his mouth to say: "If there are no numbers, then they are all imaginary." The population of a county and a state has risen from geometry to geometry, how much tax can be received each year, how much labor is allocated, how many fields are geometric, how many floods and droughts are there every year, and how is the annual income...... It's the same, it's all the same as a true measure of whether a state or county is rich or not......"

Fang gradually closed his mouth suddenly, and then remembered that this was not the past in the county office and the metropolitan governor's mansion to argue with the chief official, and now the person in front of him is no longer only in charge of his own evaluation, but can also control his own official position. He adjusted his complexion, trying to put on a respectful face, but in the end he failed, and he couldn't help but be depressed for a while.

When he entered this room, he couldn't help it, and he took out the old work, and obviously warned himself that he would tell himself about his political achievements and so on in one go, giving people a clear impression, and now it's all over

It was the first time in these years that Du Shiyi had seen someone who could handle all kinds of lengthy numbers at his fingertips, so he asked curiously for a while, but who knew that Lu Dao caused a fierce reaction from the other party. And after retorting a few words, this party gradually became depressed, and the speed of the change in his face made him appreciate the change of face. It wasn't until he had seen enough that he coughed lightly.

"You're right, compared to those flowery words, these numbers are the real standard for judging states and counties." Seeing that Fang gradually raised his head immediately, showing an expression of surprise and joy, he paused for a moment and then continued to say slowly, "However, with your ability, under those state and county magistrates who can't see your merits, I'm afraid it will be difficult to give full play to your talents. ”

After the words "but", Fang gradually changed his face when he heard it. The bad character of the head of the ministry, he has heard countless rumors in the past, such as what you ask for the east, he has to send you to the west, which is already outrageous, and what you don't like, he has to send you some official position, this situation is not uncommon. Don't look at the three annotations, you can retire, but once you fall to the last annotation, the rest are often those who are unwilling to ask for others, and there is no choice at that time.

Before the meeting, the young man who was about the same age as himself suddenly became as vigilant and suspicious as a deer, Du Shiyi couldn't help but sigh, and then said with a straight face: "The household department just lacks a degree branch master, and I think Pei Hubu will be happy to have a good helper who is proficient in numbers." ”

What is the head of the household department?

Fang gradually was stunned for a moment. When he confirmed that Du Shiyi was not joking with himself, he only felt a loud bang in his head, and he couldn't believe his good luck. When he came to his senses, he hurriedly wanted to bow and salute, but this time he used too much force and almost fell to the ground. When he was embarrassed and finally stabilized his figure, he found that Ling Shi Dao, who was standing beside Du Shiyi just now, came up to support him.

"Du Zhongshu ......"

Du Shiyi bowed slightly, and said with a smile: "It is very rare for you to be proficient in arithmetic numbers, but you also need to have Bole's discernment to know the pearls." When you get to the house, you will be at home in the water."